<div>These poignant short stories about the quiet yearnings of ordinary lives form &ldquo;a sad, brilliant, joyful tribute to the dreams that never make it&rdquo; (Sunday Express). From a recipient of a Whitbread Award, a Faber Memorial Prize, and other literary honors&mdash;who has been called &ldquo;one of Scotland&#39;s finest writers&rdquo; (Independent)&mdash;this is a collection of stories about the casualties of social and emotional struggle, the people who defy defeat with humor, resilience, and a persistent faith in their unfulfilled dreams. Whether widows or prisoners or argumentative elderly spouses, they are all the walking wounded&mdash;and they all have the power to inspire both laughter and empathy. &ldquo;As a stylist Mr. McIlvanney leaves most of the competition far behind.&rdquo; &mdash;The New York Times Book Review</div>

Walking Wounded

<div>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 that his son’s life will be different from his own… Gritty, dark and tender, Docherty is a modern classic, “a serious, considered and achingly sympathetic engagement with the people whose only trace in historical record is birth and dead notices” (Scotsman). “McIlvanney depicts the west of Scotland with a canny and ruthless insight.”—Scotsman “As a stylist Mr. McIlvanney leaves most of the competition far behind.”—The New York Times Book Review</div>

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Docherty

<div>A novel of dreams, disappointments, and detours: &ldquo;Pitch-perfect . . . excruciatingly funny . . . a beguilingly brilliant portrait of the artist as an adolescent.&rdquo; &mdash;The Sunday Times Named Scottish Book of the Year by the Saltire Society Tam 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 Edinburgh and lost in memories, Tom recalls the intellectual and sexual awakening of his youth. In looking back, Tom discovers that only by understanding where he comes from can he make sense of his life as it is now. A follow-up to the author&rsquo;s prize-winning novel Docherty, which focused on Tam&rsquo;s namesake grandfather, this is a &ldquo;beautifully written&rdquo; story of boyhood, manhood, and the sometimes blurry border between them (The Times, London). &ldquo;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.&rdquo; &mdash;The Scotsman</div>

The Kiln

<div>An &ldquo;illuminating and thought-provoking&rdquo; 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&rsquo;t yet know that this brief weekend will mark a major turning point in the emotional lives of several people, in ways that they never expected, in a novel from a Whitbread Award author that is filled with &ldquo;deft one-liners [and an] undertow of sadness&rdquo; (Times Literary Supplement). &ldquo;Wonderfully witty and wistful.&rdquo; &mdash;The Daily Mail &ldquo;The great McIlvanney themes&mdash;class, guilt, the power of the book, the difficulty of goodness&mdash;are all there, seething under the surface.&rdquo; &mdash;The Daily Telegraph)</div>

Weekend

<div>Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize Winner: After his father&rsquo;s death, a young man struggles with darkness in this novel by &ldquo;one of Scotland&rsquo;s finest writers&rdquo; (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&rsquo;s not about new life but about death. Charlie&rsquo;s father is dying from cancer&mdash;a fact he hid from his son so as not to interfere with his studies&mdash;and Charlie&rsquo;s world is about to change. As time passes, overwhelmed by the memory of the humble yet dignified death of a man who struggled so hard to provide for his family, Charlie is left to face his own fierce resentment toward his adulterous mother, who left several years ago and has a new, comfortable life. With shades of Hamlet and Camus, William McIlvanney&rsquo;s award-winning first novel is a revelatory portrait of youth, of society, and of family. &ldquo;As a stylist Mr. McIlvanney leaves most of the competition far behind.&rdquo; &mdash;The New York Times Book Review</div>

Remedy Is None

<div> 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 Award Eddie 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 Glasgow; a mortgage; a un-paid-off car that sounds like it has the combustion engine’s equivalent of asthma. Who would miss him if he died, beyond his wife, his kids, and his mistress? Only his creditors, he suspects. But thanks to Eddie’s fiddling with the firm’s expenses, he may now lose the little that he thought he had. His life is in tatters. His wife hates him. And his violent temper has left his mistress teetering on the edge of sanity… From a winner of numerous awards for both literary and crime writing, this is a novel with a noir sensibility that explores the darkness we can bring down upon ourselves. “As a stylist Mr. McIlvanney leaves most of the competition far behind.”—The New York Times Book Review</div>

A Gift from Nessus

<div>The third Laidlaw novel from the Father of Tartan Noir explores &ldquo;the ruin of the body, the corruption of the soul and the shattering of society&rdquo; (The Wall Street Journal). Strange Loyalties begins with Jack Laidlaw&rsquo;s despair and anger at his brother&rsquo;s death in a banal road accident. But his nagging doubts about the dynamics of the incident lead to larger questions about the nature of pain and injustice and the greater meaning of his own life. He becomes convinced there is more to his brother&rsquo;s death. His investigations will lead to a confrontation with his own past and a harrowing journey into the dark Glasgow underworld. The Laidlaw books are widely considered to be among the greatest achievements of Scottish crime writing and the founding novels of what has since become known as the school of Tartan Noir that includes authors like Val McDermid, Denise Mina, and Ian Rankin. &ldquo;This extraordinary and beautifully written novel . . . sets a high standard among contemporary thrillers. . . . Strange Loyalties, like its detective hero, is captivating and unforgettable.&rdquo; &mdash;Publishers Weekly Praise for William McIlvanney and the Laidlaw series &ldquo;A crime trilogy so searing it will burn forever into your memory. McIlvanney is the original Scottish criminal mastermind.&rdquo; &mdash;Christopher Brookmyre, international bestselling author &ldquo;The Laidlaw books are like fine malt whiskey&mdash;the pure distilled essence of Scottish crime writing.&rdquo; &mdash;Peter May, international bestselling author &ldquo;Fastest, first and best, Laidlaw is the melancholy heir to Marlowe. Reads like a breathless scalpel cut through the bloody heart of a city.&rdquo; &mdash;Denise Mina, award-winning author of Conviction</div>

Strange Loyalties

<div>Jack Laidlaw returns in the groundbreaking series. &ldquo;The Laidlaw books are like fine malt whiskey&mdash;the pure distilled essence of Scottish crime writing&rdquo; (Peter May, international bestselling author). In this second book in his monumental Laidlaw series, McIlvanney tells the tale of Eck Adamson, an alcoholic vagrant who summons Jack Laidlaw to his deathbed. Probably the only policeman in Glasgow who would bother to respond, Laidlaw sees in Eck&rsquo;s cryptic last message a clue to the murder of a gangland thug and the disappearance of a student. With stubborn integrity, Laidlaw tracks down a seam of corruption that runs through all levels of Glaswegian society. &ldquo;Excellent . . . McIlvanney, the undisputed grandfather of tartan noir, gives reader a complex, existential hero struggling to right myriad wrongs.&rdquo; &mdash;Publishers Weekly (starred review) &ldquo;The good news is that Laidlaw is back.&rdquo;&mdash;The Observer Praise for William McIlvanney and the Laidlaw series &ldquo;A crime trilogy so searing it will burn forever into your memory. McIlvanney is the original Scottish criminal mastermind.&rdquo; &mdash;Christopher Brookmyre, international bestselling author &ldquo;Fastest, first and best, Laidlaw is the melancholy heir to Marlowe. Reads like a breathless scalpel cut through the bloody heart of a city.&rdquo; &mdash;Denise Mina, award-winning author of Conviction &ldquo;Compelling . . . McIlvanney lays bare the soul of Glasgow, capturing every nuance of its many voices.&rdquo; &mdash;Alex Gray, author of the DCI Lorimer novels &ldquo;Laidlaw is an enduring hero with the dry wit and insight to make other literary detectives seem two-dimensional. McIlvanney is the razor king of Scottish crime writing.&rdquo; &mdash;Gordon Ferris, author of the Douglas Brodie Investigations</div>

The Papers of Tony Veitch

<div>First in &ldquo;a crime trilogy so searing it will burn forever into your memory. McIlvanney is the original Scottish criminal mastermind&rdquo; (Christopher Brookmyre, international bestselling author). The Laidlaw novels, a groundbreaking trilogy that changed the face of Scottish fiction, are credited with being the founding books of the Tartan Noir movement that includes authors like Val McDermid, Denise Mina, and Ian Rankin. Says McDermid of William McIlvanney: &ldquo;Patricia Highsmith had taken us inside the head of killers; Ruth Rendell tentatively explored sexuality; with No Mean City, Alexander McArthur had exposed Glasgow to the world; Raymond Chandler had dressed the darkness in clever words. But nobody had ever smashed those elements together into so accomplished a synthesis.&rdquo; In Laidlaw, the first book of the series, readers meet Jack Laidlaw, a hard-drinking philosopher-detective whose tough exterior cloaks a rich humanity and keen intelligence. Laidlaw&rsquo;s investigation into the murder of a young woman brings him into conflict with Glasgow&rsquo;s hard men, its gangland villains, and the moneyed thugs who control the city. As the gangsters running Glasgow race Laidlaw for the discovery of the young woman&rsquo;s killer, a sense of dangerous betrayal infests the city that only Laidlaw can erase. &ldquo;From the opening chapter of Laidlaw, I knew I&rsquo;d never read a crime novel like this.&rdquo; &mdash;Val McDermid, international bestselling author &ldquo;It&rsquo;s doubtful I would be a crime writer without the influence of McIlvanney&rsquo;s Laidlaw.&rdquo; &mdash;Ian Rankin, New York Times&ndash;bestselling author &ldquo;Laidlaw is a tough novel, with an exciting ending, and it is superbly written. You should not miss this one.&rdquo; &mdash;The New York Times &ldquo;A classic of the genre.&rdquo; &mdash;The Guardian</div>

Laidlaw

<div>In this prequel to the hit series, Glasgow’s gritty detective probes the murder of a gangland lawyer as tensions rise in the city’s underworld. Lawyer Bobby Carter did a lot of work for the wrong kind of people. When his body is found in an alley behind a pub that is known to be under the protective wing of a local crime boss, the fragile equilibrium that has been keeping Glasgow relatively safe for months is shattered. Besides a distraught family and any number of powerful friends, Carter has left behind his fair share of enemies. So who is responsible for his death? DC Jack Laidlaw’s reputation precedes him. He’s not a team player, but he’s got a sixth sense for what’s happening on the streets. His boss chalks Carter’s death up to the usual rivalries, but Laidlaw knows it can’t be that simple. As two Glasgow gangs go to war, he needs to find Carter’s killer before the whole city explodes . . . Award-winning author William McIlvanney’s Laidlaw books changed the face of crime fiction. When he died in 2015, he left half a handwritten manuscript of Laidlaw’s first case. New York Times–bestselling author Ian Rankin has finished what McIlvanney started. Here, in The Dark Remains, these two iconic authors bring to life the criminal world of 1970s Glasgow, and Laidlaw’s relentless quest for truth. Praise for The Dark Remains Winner of the 2022 British Book Award for Crime &amp; Thriller Book of the Year “Fantastic—like witnessing Scottish noir’s Big Bang creation in the company of its greatest living exponent . . . Like Maradona and Messi playing in the same team.” —Lee Child, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of the Jack Reacher thrillers “Jack Laidlaw is the quintessential crime fiction protagonist, and Ian Rankin delivers a wholly satisfactory homage.” —Irish Times “The writing here is so sharp nearly every sentence could split open a haggis.” —The Washington Post “The world McIlvanney and Rankin create—there’s no indication of who wrote what, and readers will be hard-pressed to tell—is deliciously fluid in its conflicts.” —Kirkus Reviews “A brilliant read: gritty, atmospheric, and menacing.” —Mystery Scene Magazine</div>

William McIlvanney
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Books By William McIlvanney (10 Books)

Walking Wounded

Docherty

The Kiln

Weekend

Remedy Is None

A Gift from Nessus

Strange Loyalties

The Papers of Tony Veitch

Laidlaw

The Dark Remains

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William McIlvanneyFollow this author