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Fiction

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Nikita Lalwani - The Village

Nikita Lalwani - The Village

A tense social drama about trust and betrayal, set in an Indian prison

(4 stars)22 May 2012

When Ray Bhullar travels to an Indian ‘open prison’ village to film a behind-the-scenes BBC documentary, she gets more than she bargained for. ‘Everyone here has killed someone,’ she’s told, as she slowly adapts to the sights and smells of her alien new…

John Irving - In One Person

John Irving - In One Person

A fascinating and engaging novel set against the backdrop of gay culture in America

(4 stars)22 May 2012

Write about what you know, we’re told, and John Irving is certainly a big subscriber to that particular maxim. For his 13th novel, Irving once again inhabits the worlds of New Hampshire (his birthplace) and wrestling (his preferred sport). Our…

Chris Cleave - Gold

Chris Cleave - Gold

Well-timed Olympic-themed novel fails to fulfill the promise of its intriguing premise

(3 stars)22 May 2012

There’s something intriguing about the mindset of those athletes who are honed from a very young age into Olympic machines. Lives are altered irrevocably in pursuit of a small gold disc and the too-fleeting associated glory: a strange, self-obsessed way…

First Shot: Just Say Aye - an extract from Irvine Welsh's Skagboys

First Shot: Just Say Aye - an extract from Irvine Welsh's Skagboys

A sneak peek inside the Edinburgh author's Trainspotting prequel

26 Apr 2012

We head oot and dive oantae a 16, bound fir Johnny’s pad at Tolcross. It’s a blindin hot day so we sit doonstairs at the back for a better view ay the passin fanny. Back top deck wi Begbie, tae intimidate wideos, back bottom wi Sick Boy tae leer at…

Interview: Irvine Welsh on Trainspotting prequel Skagboys

Interview: Irvine Welsh on Trainspotting prequel Skagboys

The new book, Leith, Twitter and the importance of subcultures

25 Apr 2012

Early on in our transatlantic phone conversation, it suddenly becomes unclear whether I’m chatting to Irvine Welsh or Frank Begbie. When I ask whether he might well be the busiest man in Scottish culture right now, the response comes over loud, clear…

Michael Frayn - Skios

Michael Frayn - Skios

An astute and entertaining comic novel from the erstwhile playwright

(4 stars)24 Apr 2012

(Faber) Michael Frayn’s new novel is a farce of Carry On proportions. Awkward sexual encounters, mistaken identities and buffoonish caricatures of powerful men and women litter the plot of this engaging, occasionally bawdy comedy. To many, Frayn is…

Jackie Kay - Reality, Reality

Jackie Kay - Reality, Reality

A short story outing with some beautiful moments but overall patchy quality

(3 stars)24 Apr 2012

(Picador) In the wake of 2010’s fantastic memoir Red Dust Road and last year’s poetry collection Fiere, this short story outing has some beautiful moments in it, and Jackie Kay’s trademark compassion for her characters is intact, but the quality of…

Iain Banks - Stonemouth

Iain Banks - Stonemouth

The spiritual follow-up to The Crow Road is slightly flawed, but still a page-turner

(3 stars)27 Mar 2012

For those Iain Banks fans not overly keen on his sci-fi work, it will be a blessed relief to see no mention of a middle initial ‘M’ in his name here. For those who loved the prickly relationships and family machinations in the smalltown Scotland of The…

Peter Carey - The Chemistry of Tears

Peter Carey - The Chemistry of Tears

Moving portrait of grief and genius from the twice Booker-winning author

(4 stars)16 Mar 2012

(Faber) Grief haunts the pages of Peter Carey’s new novel, the twice Booker-winning author painting a compelling picture of all-consuming love in the 19th and 21st centuries. Catherine Gehrig is an horologist turned museum conservator who, following…

First Writes: Catriona Child, author of Trackman

First Writes: Catriona Child, author of Trackman

Novel's lead character's life changed by a homeless man’s MP3 player

16 Mar 2012

Give us five words to describe Trackman? Music, Edinburgh, memories, love, loss. Name one author who should be more famous than they are now? Brian McCabe. When I first started to take my writing seriously, I went to his writer’s workshop. He was…

Juli Zeh - The Method

Juli Zeh - The Method

A riveting intellectual and emotional thriller set in a dystopian future

(4 stars)16 Mar 2012

(Harvill Secker) German author Juli Zeh’s translated 2009 novel is an Orwellian vision of the near future in which civilisation adheres to the stark principles of The Method. Priority is given to physical health over mental freedom of the mind with…

Decembrists singer Colin Meloy writes children's book Wildwood

Decembrists singer Colin Meloy writes children's book Wildwood

The novel is the product of collaboration with his wife Carson Ellis

9 Mar 2012

Wildwood is the debut illustrated children's novel from husband-and-wife creative double act Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis. Meloy is probably best known as the lead singer of US indie-folk group The Decembrists (for whom Ellis supplies album artwork).

Jo Nesbø - Phantom

Jo Nesbø - Phantom

A new, hard-hitting instalment of the Norwegian author's Harry Hole series

(4 stars)28 Feb 2012

(Harvill Secker) Like all great fictional detectives, Harry Hole is always one step ahead. Not only of us, the reader, but those around him. Which, when you’re trying to solve a crime, is a definite bonus. Less so when it comes to affairs of the…

First Writes: Lisa O'Donnell, author of The Death of Bees

First Writes: Lisa O'Donnell, author of The Death of Bees

The first-time writer on Glasgow set tale of young orphaned girls

28 Feb 2012

Give us five words to describe The Death of Bees? Contemporary. Dark. Comic. Social. Loud. Name one author who should be more famous than they are now? Katherine Dunn who wrote the amazing Geek Love. She’s written other things, mostly about boxing…

Tom Perrotta - The Leftovers

Tom Perrotta - The Leftovers

The measured delivery of this fantastical story results in impeccable satire

(4 stars)28 Feb 2012

(Fourth Estate) Tom Perrotta’s measured new novel proves that even with the most fantastical story, you don’t have to be flashy to hit your nail right on its head. The Leftovers is about a half-cocked Rapture in which believers and atheists alike…

Jon Lanchester - Capital

John Lanchester - Capital

A well-observed ensemble story that lacks momentum

(3 stars)28 Feb 2012

(Faber) Pepys Road is the setting for a slowly unfurling whodunit, where residents of the posh London suburb must work out who is harassing them. It begins with an innocuous postcard, stating, ‘We Want What You Have’. Things get progressively more…

Johanna Skibsrud - This Will be Difficult to Explain and other stories

Johanna Skibsrud - This Will be Difficult to Explain and other stories

Short story collection fails to meet the medium's strict demands

(2 stars)28 Feb 2012

(Heinemann) Time is not on the short story’s side. There are no leisurely chapters in which to manufacture a slow build to a devastating denouement; no space to take us on a character’s full-length journey. To succeed, therefore, a short story has to…

John O'Farrell - The Man Who Forgot His Wife

John O'Farrell - The Man Who Forgot His Wife

Mildly diverting rom-com novel from the Spitting Image writer

(3 stars)28 Feb 2012

(Doubleday) What would we make of our partners if our memories were wiped and we spied them anew? This question loiters, doe-eyed, at the heart of John O’Farrell’s retrograde amnesia rom-com, The Man Who Forgot His Wife. It’s a light-hearted…

Crime books round-up – March 2012

Crime books round-up – March 2012

Doug Johnstone, Alex Gray and Mari Jungstedt deliver new crime novels this month

17 Feb 2012

As if to show that fiction readers love a good bit of murder and mystery, death and deceit, blood and booze, there’s acres of it about to be scattered around the nation’s book shelves. Doug Johnstone (of this parish) parks his Hit and Run (Faber) at our…

The state of Scottish writing

Is this a golden era for Scottish literature?

Alan Bissett, Helen Fitzgerald and Allan Wilson survey the current literary lansdscape

1 Feb 2012

Alan Bissett The contention is that Scottish literature – due to a combination of factors, including centralised buying by book chains and a backlash against post-Trainspotting fiction – has undergone a difficult time of late, but that the tide is…

Shalom Auslander - Hope: A Tragedy

Shalom Auslander - Hope: A Tragedy

Probably the funniest book that’s ever going to be written about the Holocaust

(5 stars)1 Feb 2012

(Picador) This is probably the funniest book that’s ever going to be written about the Holocaust. But then Shalom Auslander has previous experience of laugh-out-loud writings about Jewish guilt, paranoia, misery and self-loathing. His short story…

Profile: Louise Welsh, author of The Cutting Room and Naming the Bones

Profile: Louise Welsh, author of The Cutting Room and Naming the Bones

The crime author is set to appear at three literary events this month

1 Feb 2012

Ever since she exploded onto the Scottish literary scene in 2002 with her literary detective novel The Cutting Room, Louise Welsh has proved to be an astute explorer of human frailty. She describes her quartet of acclaimed novels as quests in which an…

Eowyn Ivey, author of The Snow Child - interview

Interview: Eowyn Ivey - author of The Snow Child

Debut author discusses tale of heartbreak and hope set in 1920s Alaska

1 Feb 2012

Give us five words to describe The Snow Child? Alaskan. Wild. Magical. Rugged. Tender. Name one author who should be more famous than they are now? M Allen Cunningham. His novel The Green Age of Asher Witherow is one of the finest I have ever…

Jeet Thayil - Narcopolis

Jeet Thayil - Narcopolis

Bombay-centric social drama with tangible atmosphere but little narrative drive

(3 stars)1 Feb 2012

(Faber) Narcopolis begins and ends with the word ‘Bombay’. Although several individuals vie for centre stage in poet Jeet Thayil’s debut novel, the main character here is India’s most densely populated city. Viewed as a solemn and dangerous hive…

Helen Schulman - This Beautiful Life

Helen Schulman - This Beautiful Life

Slightly outdated family drama that retains some timeliness and authenticity

(3 stars)1 Feb 2012

(Atlantic) With frightening believability, New York novelist Helen Schulman depicts a single, unthinking mouse-click tearing a family apart. Set in 2003, aspects of This Beautiful Life are outdated, but the key dramatic action of a 15-year-old boy…

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