Alison Ragsdale Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Collections

Alison Ragsdale
Alison Ragsdale is a proud Scots lass, having been born in Edinburgh and the connection she feels to her homeland hasn’t ever left her. Her novels are set in the stunning Highlands and islands of Scotland, as a result.

She has an MBA, having been educated at Leicester University in England.

Alison’s had a varied career. She has trained as a professional ballet dancer and for many years has worked in the field of dance. She got injured, which brought that to a halt, she eventually became a marketing executive. After spending two decades in that world, Alison started her own health services business however it took too great of a toll on her so her husband encouraged her to focus on writing, something she’d always dreamed of doing.

She took the leap of faith in the year 2014, and dove into her first full-length novel, called “Tuesday’s Socks”. It was a scary feeling for her, putting her ‘baby’ out there, however she was delighted when readers fell for her sweet protagonist, called Jeffrey Mere.

While she never set out to be an author, it’s always been a dream of hers and now, thanks to her supportive husband and the forces of the universe, this has become a reality.

The thing that she likes most about being a writer is the ability she gets to spend time each day, crafting storylines which feel relatable. Alison has always loved reading and through becoming an author her main objective was to reach other people by writing about real-life scenarios which make readers nod their head in recognition. When she learns something like that has happened for somebody, that is the best part of the process for her.

If she gets stuck on something, she’ll just walk away from the manuscript. Sometimes for a couple of weeks and then, typically when she’s doing something that is completely unrelated to the novel, she’ll have an epiphany.

“The Father-Daughter Club” and “A Life Unexpected” both won IPPY Bronze medals, the former for Best Region Fiction—Europe and the latter for the Popular Fiction category.

“Tuesday’s Socks” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2014. Jeffrey Mere, founder and sole employee of Mere Accounting, is a solitary man. He’s spent his whole life close to his home, in the picturesque Scottish town of Pitlochry. After sixty-four years of playing it safe, with his retirement looming, he resolves to climb Ben Macdhui, Britain’s second highest peak.

His choice sets off a sequence of events which alters his life forever. He comes back from the mountain to find nothing the same as he left it and events start spiraling out of control. Within just a few weeks a fire threatens the street that he lives on, there’s a new woman in his life, and he finds he’s on the ancient streets in Rome. Is sixty-four too old to take a flying leap of faith which could change it all?

“The Father-Daughter” is the second stand alone novel and was released in the year 2014. Here is the story of a family that struggles with acceptance. A devastating loss and some life altering choices create the need for forgiveness, and above all else, change.

Elizabeth and David Fredericks are spending a month in Eastern Scotland. They plan on indulging David’s love of classical architecture, by traveling through Italy and Greece, attempt to celebrate his retirement, and attempt to heal the wounds that his recent affair has caused to their marriage.

When their daughter Kate, an engineering professor and the apple of David’s eye, shows up in Athens unannounced to tell them both she’s in love with Charlotte Macfie (a talented patisserie chef), things go awry. David withdraws, unable to cope with her revelation, which forces Elizabeth to take on the uncharted role of mediator, between the formerly inseparable daughter and dad. Tragedy strikes and the Fredericks’ have to find a way to set their differences aside and build a newly structured family.

“Finding Heather” is the third stand alone novel and was released in the year 2015. Heather Forester is currently losing her grip on reality. She shows up at the airport to meet Brett, her pilot husband, and then remembers that he isn’t coming back. He died months prior, leaving her lost in the crippling and confusing maze of widowhood.

Heather, who’s now alone with her seven year old twins, craves the support of her brother and mom, who are currently halfway across the world in Scotland. However she moves her fractured family to her homeland, and their lives end up changing in ways that she could never have anticipated.

While her kids struggle to fit in to their new home, school, and family, she also battles with the painful truth that she’s become a stranger in her own homeland.

Surrounded by the rugged breathtaking beauty of the Isle of Skye’s rocky coastline, lush forests, and velvet moors, she is forced to faces challenges old and new while putting her life back together and learns about the healing power of family.

“A Life Unexpected” is the fourth stand alone novel and was released in the year 2018. A story about daughters and moms, about secrets long kept, of the love of family and of hope.

Eve Carruthers gets caught off her guard when her newly married daughter, named Jess, asks her if the cystic fibrosis gene runs in the family. Eve has to admit that she’s kept the fact of her own adoption a secret, from her daughter.

Eve asks her parents all about the circumstances of her birth and a stunning secret gets revealed. While she dives deeper into her mysterious past, and gets preoccupied by what she learns, Ken, her over-protective husband, starts feeling excluded.

When she meets a family researcher, called Dan, she’s flattered by this charismatic man’s interest in her. While the foundation of her whole shifts, she has to make a choice which could alienate her daughter, cause a rift in her marriage, and challenge everything that she had believed to be true about herself.