The Tailor of Inverness
- Regular
- £10.99
- Sale
- £10.99
- Regular
- £10.99
- Unit Price
- per
About the Book:
The Tailor of Inverness is a story of journeys, of how a boy who grew up on a farm in Galicia (Eastern Poland, now Western Ukraine) came to be a tailor in Inverness. His life spanned most of the 20th century.
His story is not straightforward. He was taken prisoner by the Soviets in 1939 and forced to work east of the Urals, then freed in an amnesty after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. He then joined the thousands of Poles who travelled to Tehran, then Egypt, to be integrated into the British Army, fighting in North Africa and Italy. He was then resettled in Britain in 1948, joining his brother in Glasgow.
This is the story he told.
But was the tailor really who he said he was?
![]()
Reviews:
Revelatory and uplifting. MISHA GLENNY
A wonderful storyteller….part travelogue, part history, part biography and, at times deeply moving, this is a real page-turner. ABERDEEN PRESS & JOURNAL
Engrossing….written with tremendous affection. THE HERALD
Zajac slowly peels back the layers of half truths and lies to discover that his father’s mysterious life was far more complicated than the simple picture that had been presented to him as a young boy. The author brings to life brilliantly the effects that the war had on his own family and the way that it fractured their lives forever. SCOTTISH FIELD
Matthew Zajac has seamlessly gathered subtle patterns of narrative and worked them into a vivid, rare and elegant whole. I was transfixed by a story as compelling, mutable and uncomfortable as truth must sometimes be. This is a brave and unforgettable work that will leave your mind spinning as you contemplate the yarns that make up your own sense of identity. KEVIN MACNEIL
This book is about history, fathers and sons, husbands and wives, the brutality of war, and the deep emotional need to know the truth about who we are and where we come from. You think there can be no more new stories to come from that dark era, but this is one, and it's both fascinating and moving. JAMES ROBERTSON
About the Author:
Matthew Zajac grew up in Inverness and studied drama at Bristol University. He has worked as an actor for 44 years, appearing in theatres throughout the UK, Europe and other parts of the world, and in numerous film, TV and radio productions. He has worked as a director and producer for several theatre companies and has also produced two films. He is currently Artistic Director of Dogstar Theatre Company which is based in the Scottish Highlands and tours its productions in Scotland and abroad. Dogstar has also co-produced with companies in Sweden and Denmark. In 2009, Matthew was named Best Actor in the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland for his performance in his play The Tailor of Inverness. The play has won several other awards and has toured extensively in Scotland and to Poland, Ukraine, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, France, Belgium, Ireland, England, Wales, Australia and the USA. Circling a Fox, a documentary film about this story directed by Brian Ross and produced by Hopscotch Films, was broadcast by the BBC in 2020 and ’21. Matthew’s other plays include The Sky Is Safe (2017) and his adaptation of James Robertson’s novel The Testament of Gideon Mack (2025). Matthew is married to Virginia Radcliffe and they have two daughters, Ruby and Iona.