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200 ratings | 156 reviews | avg rating:4.04

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Neil MacDonald

Goodreads Author

Born

in Dundee, The United Kingdom

April 25

Website

https://neilmacdonaldauthor.com/

Genre

Nonfiction, Contemporary, Thriller

Member Since

March 2014

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I was born in Dundee, Scotland and raised in Jamaica. I have a PhD in genetics and started my working life as a scientist. From there, I moved through journalism (the last profession of the gentleman) and publishing to working for international aid organisations.

I have always written, one way or another, and am the author of five current affairs books on Latin America and the Caribbean, and most recently, in 2013, Cautionary Tales for Development Workers, a collection of stories about international aid.

Over the last several years I have been serving my apprenticeship in fiction and my debut literary thriller,The Tears of Boabdil, is out in September 2020. My historical fantasy novel A Prize of Sovereigns. was serialised on BigWorldNework ...more

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Combine Editions
Neil MacDonald’s books

Average rating: 4.31 · 52 ratings · 45 reviews · 16 distinct works

	The Tears of Boabdil 4.35 avg rating — 46 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cautionary Tales for Development Folk 3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Elsewhere: The Story of UK Skateboarding 1987-2002 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Caribbean: Making Our Own Choices really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Andes (Oxfam Country Profiles Series) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1992	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Central America: Options for the Poor 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hard Lessons: Report of a N.U.T./W.U.S.Delegation to El Salvador 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	With Full Conviction 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Western Way 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Eachunn agus an Tarbh: Hector and the Bull 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Neil MacDonald's Blog

Friday Fictioneers – Too Good

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Henry’s too good for this world. Everyone says so. Shirt-off-his-back type. But Henry hides a secret, and I know it. Not to be disclosed to you, but I promise it’s juicy—the man is atoning.

Several courses of action are open—reveal, exploit, keep shtum. The choice will say a lot about my character.

If you lot are nice to me, I’ll leave your saint alone, how’s tha

Neil is Currently Reading

Neil MacDonald is currently reading

Exit Party

by Emily St. John Mandel (Goodreads Author)

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Sep 25, 2026 03:49AM

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The Tears of Boabdil

by Neil MacDonald (Goodreads Author)

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Neil MacDonald wrote a new blog post Friday Fictioneers – Too Good PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-FieldsHenry’s too good for this world. Everyone says so. Shirt-off-his-back type. But Henry hides a secret, and I know Read more of this blog post »
Oct 08, 2026 03:40AM · like
Neil MacDonald wants to read When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 04, 2026 06:03AM · like
Neil MacDonald rated a book it was ok Storythinking: The New Science of Narrative Intelligence (No Limits) by Angus Fletcher	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I had expected to be enthralled by this book, since I have also made a study of the way narrative shapes how we think. Instead, I found it full of unjustified leaps of logic and flourishes of fancy. Story thinking, for Fletcher, is an ancient mode of ...more
Sep 26, 2026 03:24AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Storythinking by Angus Fletcher. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Storythinking by Angus Fletcher <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Neil MacDonald rated a book really liked it Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Isabel Kim’s short speculative fiction stories had already won awards before she published her debut novel, Sublimation. The world here differs from our own in one major respect: crossing a border risks “instancing” where the traveller leaves a versi ...more
Sep 26, 2026 03:24AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Neil MacDonald is currently reading Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 25, 2026 03:49AM · like
Neil MacDonald rated a book really liked it Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Isabel Kim’s short speculative fiction stories had already won awards before she published her debut novel, Sublimation. The world here differs from our own in one major respect: crossing a border risks “instancing” where the traveller leaves a versi ...more
Sep 25, 2026 03:46AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Neil MacDonald finished reading Storythinking: The New Science of Narrative Intelligence (No Limits) by Angus Fletcher	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 22, 2026 05:44PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Storythinking by Angus Fletcher. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Storythinking by Angus Fletcher <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
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Sep 15, 2026 02:14AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Storythinking by Angus Fletcher. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Storythinking by Angus Fletcher <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
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Sep 14, 2026 05:16PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Neil MacDonald wants to read Storythinking: The New Science of Narrative Intelligence (No Limits) by Angus Fletcher	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 02, 2026 08:54AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Storythinking by Angus Fletcher. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Storythinking by Angus Fletcher <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">