The Argonaut BookTrail

Submitted: 8th December 2025

Booktrails Argonaut style

Recently, everyone in the book world was shocked at the unfathomable announcement of Waterstones to establish a new store right beside the indie bookshop Argonaut in Edinburgh. Now, Waterstones did have a store in the nearby Ocean Terminal on Leith Docks but this is some distance away from Argonaut. It’s not just a replacement of that store – that store wasn’t in Argonaut’s immediate eyeline was it? It wasn’t practically next door. It wasn’t in Leith high street which is a focus for many indie stores.

Argonaut Books (c) BookTrail

Anyway, to try and rebalance the sheer awfulness of this bookish news….TheBookTrail wishes to reveal The Argonaut Booktrail……..

Argonaut books

First stop – Argonaut Books

I can’t praise this bookshop enough. It’s warm, friendly, has a cafe, is SO well stocked and has gorgeous displays, and is bright and charming! The store is like walking into your living room * well mine at least haha with the tables, chairs, books everywhere and the atmosphere that you are home. And you are – buy a book, a gift or a coffee or in my case all three. The owners are now friends but they were from my first visit. I felt very welcomed going in – they were so happy to have people in their store, their dream and wanted to chat. I discovered their shop but the journey behind it and it warmed my heart!

Argonaut Books (c) BookTrail

I once found myself on my own in Edinburgh at Christmas (long story) and found to my surprise that Argonaut was open on Christmas Day! They were open for anyone who wanted company, a chat with a new friend and a warm welcome. So I went and had a lovely time meeting people, chatting over a coffee and a mince pie. The owners are just so friendly and welcoming and I bought a book on my way out as a thank you. Honestly, this was the most unexpected visit but a memory I will cherish – THAT is the power of indie bookstores and of Argonaut in particular. The community, the love, the place in people’s hearts, the ability to know people and get to know them and not just about their reading habits. These people CARE.

I LOVE these guys and will support them with my dying breath. I have been back many many times since and always buy a book (or two) haha.

Books set in and around Edinburgh taking in the best indie bookshops along the way.

The Library of the Dead – MAP

Calton Hill and Leith feature in all of the books and turns out, it’s a very secret place full of underground magic. This is just up the hill from Argonaut Books so you could go to the bookshop, hop on the tram or walk to the top and visit the place of magic for yourself.

They say that if you buy a bag of books from Argonaut but can still walk up Leith Walk to Calton Hill without getting out of breath, you are allowed to go back to the bookshop again and again. (If you are out of breath, you must take the tram;)

Leith is a fine place – full of independent shops, cafes and a whole host of other businesses. It’s a lovely place and has a lot of history attached to it as well. Plenty of maritime history for one…..

The Kings Witches – MAP

…… and in Kate Foster’s The King’s Witches about the Scottish Witch Trials, she has her harbour master Andrew Hammond working here so you might bump into him. Witchcraft mania has flooded Edinburgh – this is based on a real part of the city’s history so one to buy from Argonaut and then go out and explore the history for yourself.

More violence in the past is featured in Sara Sheridan’s The Fair Botanists with a public flogging right on the dockside.

And don’t be knocking on Carole Johnstone’s door – she writes about a flat in Leith with VERY dark secrets in Mirrorland!

However do go to the places in Leith that author Helen Fields writes about – she’s given Lucy from her novel Watching You an apartment here……

Watching You – MAP

This novel has locations in and around Edinburgh – think mortuaries and hospitals 😉 but for a really ghostly experience, take the bus out to Jupiter Artland – Edinburgh’s award-winning sculpture garden.

There are several examples of statutes called The Weeping Girls – rumour has it that these are readers who went into Argonaut but didn’t buy a book thinking that they really shouldn’t as they might have a overly large TBR. So these ‘readers with regret’ are now immortalised in stone as a warning to others *

Weeping Girls (c) Laura Ford

Unsound – MAP

Heading back to Leith now and Heather Critchlow has featured it nicely in a novel –

Water of Leith Walkway

The Water of Leith Walkway is a 12-mile path that runs along the river Leith through Edinburgh. Along this path you can see such as Dean Village, St Bernard’s Well and the life-like Anthony Gormley statues standing in the rushing water. The walkway plays an important part in Unsound and is well worth a visit. Start at Dean Village and walk out to Leith to cover the parts featured in the book.

The fictional grain house that features in Unsound was based on the old Imperial Dock Grain Warehouse in Leith. The warehouse was demolished in 2021 but you can still see the historic docks.

Fault Lines

And no mention of Leith can happen without mentioning star author Doug Johnstone – in FAULT LINES he features a volcanic island, called the Inch which has emerged from a fault line in the Firth of Forth. Head to Leith docks and you can probably see it – in your imagination at least.

Argonaut books