A novel of dreams, disappointments, and detours: "Pitch-perfect . . . excruciatingly funny . . . a beguilingly brilliant portrait of the artist as an adolescent." — The Sunday TimesNamed Scottish Book of the Year by the Saltire SocietyTam Docherty was seventeen in the summer of 1955. With school behind him and a summer job at a brick works, Tom had his whole life before him.Years later, alone in a rented flat in Ed...

Whitbread Award Winner: A Scottish miner fights for a better life for his son in this "intense, witty and beautifully wrought novel" ( Daily Telegraph).At the dawn of the twentieth century, newborn Conn Docherty, raw as a fresh wound, lies between his parents in their tenement room, with no birthright but a life's labor in the pits of his small town on the coast of Scotland. But the world is changing, and, lying next to him, Conn's father, Tam, has decided ...

An "illuminating and thought-provoking" novel revolving around an academic gathering at a hotel on a Scottish island (Irvine Welsh, The Guardian).At Willowdale, a Victorian mansion hotel on a Scottish island, a group of English Literature lecturers and students have arrived from Glasgow. They are preparing for a weekend of lectures and intellectual discussions, though some look forward to less studious interactions as well. But as they gather, they don't y...

These poignant short stories about the quiet yearnings of ordinary lives form "a sad, brilliant, joyful tribute to the dreams that never make it" ( Sunday Express).From a recipient of a Whitbread Award, a Faber Memorial Prize, and other literary honors—who has been called "one of Scotland's finest writers" ( Independent)—this is a collection of stories about the casualties of social and emotional struggle, the people who defy defeat with humor, res...

A dark, psychologically compelling story of grift, greed, and a salesman in trouble, from "the finest Scottish novelist of our time" ( Telegraph).Winner of a Scottish Arts Council Book AwardEddie Cameron is a thirty-five-year-old salesman for Rocklight Ltd., an electrical equipment firm in Glasgow, who feels like he's lived thirty-five years with little to show for it: a job as a salesman at Rocklight, Ltd., an electrical equipment firm in G...

Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize Winner: After his father's death, a young man struggles with darkness in this novel by "one of Scotland's finest writers" ( The Independent, UK).Charlie Grant, an intense young student at Glasgow University, sits in the lecture hall worrying about the looming possibility that his girlfriend may be pregnant, waiting for her to send word. But when a message arrives for him, it's not about new life but about death. Charlie's fath...

THE FIRST IN THE ORIGINAL LAIDLAW TRILOGY. WINNER OF THE CWA SILVER DAGGER.'If you only read one crime novel this year, this should be it’ Guardian'A bloody good read' Val McDermidWhen a young woman is found brutally murdered in Kelvingrove Park, only one man stands a chance of finding her killer. Jack Laidlaw. He is a man of contrasts, ravaged by inner demons but driven by a deep compassion...

AS SEEN IN THE MOTION PICTURE STARRING LIAM NEESONThe big man is Dan Scoular, a legend of physical prowess in a decaying Ayrshire mining community. When a bare-knuckle fight offers both money and a purpose, he finds it turns into a monumental struggle to keep his heritage and integrity intact.

THE SECOND IN THE ORIGINAL LAIDLAW TRILOGY. WINNER OF THE CWA SILVER DAGGER'In a class of his own' Guardian'Reads like a breathless scalpel through the bloody heart of a great city' Denise MinaEck Adamson, an alcoholic vagrant, summons Jack Laidlaw to his deathbed. Probably the only policeman in Glasgow who would bother to respond, Laidlaw sees in Eck's cryptic last message a clue to the mur...

THE THIRD IN THE ORIGINAL LAIDLAW TRILOGY'The Laidlaw books are not just great crime novels, they are important ones' Mark Billingham'It's doubtful I would be a crime writer without the influence of McIlvanney's Laidlaw' Ian RankinWhen his brother dies stepping out in front of a car, Jack Laidlaw is determined to find out what really happened. Laidlaw begins an emotional quest through Glasgow's underworld, and into t...

Eck Adamson, an alcoholic vagrant, summons Jack Laidlaw to his deathbed. Probably the only policeman in Glasgow who would bother to respond, Laidlaw sees in Eck's cryptic last message a clue to the murder of a gangland thug and the disappearance of a student. With stubborn integrity, Laidlaw tracks a seam of corruption that runs from the top to the bottom of society.

When his brother dies stepping out in front of a car, Detective Jack Laidlaw is determined to find out what really happened. With corrosive wit, Laidlaw relates an emotional quest through Glasgow's underworld, and into the past. He discovers as much about himself as the loved brother he has lost in a search that leads to a shattering climax.