That Was a Shiver

“Thought-provoking” short stories from the Man Booker Prize–winning author of How Late It Was, How Late and Kieron Smith, Boy (Scotsman).

A trucker passes through a town he used to know and a local tries to sell him his sister; a couple put their children to bed and hear a loud scratching at the wall; a Principal and his associate examine the dead body before them; a man looks into a mirror and reflects on becoming more like his father.

Sparky, touching, and brilliantly daring, these stories uncover human feeling in the ordinary and the everyday, and are a reminder of Kelman’s exceptional talent.

Shortlisted for the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year · Longlisted for the Edge Hill Prize.

“Kelman brings alive a human consciousness like no other writer can.” —Alan Warner, award-winning author of The Man Who Walks

“The mixture of the precisely but surreally bureaucratic and the casually macabre is perfectly judged.” —The Times

“Kelman is on another level to most of the living writers in the UK.” —The Guardian

“Kelman has always been a true and honest writer; which is why he is one of the fairly few who really matter.” —Scotsman

“Kelman’s language is immediately exciting; like a musician, he uses repetition and rhythm.” —The New Yorker