The Kiln - Softcover

Mcilvanney, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0340657367 ISBN 13: 9780340657362

Publisher: Sceptre, 1997

Synopsis

Alone in a rented flat in Edinburgh in the 1990s, Tom Docherty calls up the past like a necromancer, reliving the summer of 1955 - the summer of the kiln. Then he was seventeen, with school behind him, a holiday job at a Graithnock brick work, and his life before him. As he recalls the intellectual and sexual awakening of his youth and the paths he took as an adult, he discovers that only by understanding where he comes from can he make sense of his life.

William McIlvanney portrays a man weighing up the balance of his life with unflinching honesty. It is a remarkable portrait, drawn with razor-sharp humour, wisdom and compassion by a masterful writer.

About this title

Review:

'A pitch-perfect blend of warm lyricism, limpid observation and excruciatingly funny comedy. It is a beguilingly brilliant portrait of the artist as an adolescent' ( Sunday Times )

'Delightfully funny... [McIlvanney] is a compassionate writer and leaves an impression both of high seriousness and great charm' ( Sunday Telegraph )

'Finely judged and beautifully written' ( The Times )

'The best novel yet from the finest Scottish writer of our time' (Allan Massie, Daily Telegraph Books of the Year)

'On almost every page it offers matter for reflection and the sudden stab of emotion that comes from reading something that is truly evoked or created ... It is rare and it is wonderful' ( Scotsman )

'McIlvanney plumbs, in language of luminous precision, the tortured psyche of the Scottish character. It's Greek tragedy, hilarious to boot.' ( Mail on Sunday )

Book Description:

McIlvanney's award-winning, ecstatically acclaimed autobiographical novel, reissued to coincide with the paperback publication of WEEKEND

About this edition

• Publisher: Sceptre
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0340657367
• ISBN 13: 9780340657362
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288