Ewan Morrison is not only Scotland’s most intriguing writer, he has the eerie gift of prophecy. His last novel, How to Survive Everything, predicted a global pandemic well before Covid-19. It explored the extremes human beings will go to “when there’s no one left to trust”. It shows a family determined to survive against the odds — which includes, by the way, a do-it-yourself amputation.
When lockdown came, Morrison and his wife, Emily, decided to be survivalists. They escaped to a hideaway location in Argyll, taking with them essential supplies and nothing else. It included lots of over-the-counter drugs, beans, pulses and water purifiers. They tried to grow their own crops.
“We failed miserably,” he said. “It’s very hard to grow anything in Scotland
