The Crow Road

'One of the best opening lines of any novel' Guardian

'It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat in the crematorium, listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony to Bach's Mass in B Minor, and I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallanach.'

Prentice McHoan has returned to the bosom of his complex but enduring Scottish family. Full of questions about the McHoan past, present and future, he is also deeply preoccupied: mainly with death, sex, drink, God and illegal substances...

Praise for Iain Banks:

'The most imaginative novelist of his generation' The Times

'His verve and talent will always be recognised, and his work will always find and enthral new readers' Ken MacLeod, Guardian

'His work was mordant, surreal, and fiercely intelligent' Neil Gaiman

'An exceptional wordsmith' Scotsman

“Hip and sexy humour....Bank reinforces his credentials as one of the most able, energetic and stimulating writers we have in the UK. TIME OUT-- The Crow Road is tight with detail and closer observation and creates a strong sense of a particular period of growing up. THE INDEPENDENT”

Banks has woven a warm and funny story, rich with characters and adventures. An utterly enchanting piece of fiction...it marks a return to his brilliant best. NEW WOMAN - This is Bank s finest novel yet. INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

Hip and sexy humour....Bank reinforces his credentials as one of the most able, energetic and stimulating writers we have in the UK. TIME OUT - The Crow Road is tight with detail and closer observation and creates a strong sense of a particular period of growing up. THE INDEPENDENT

Magic is the book's keynote. It echoes in descriptions of evolution that pass from the factual to the elegiac and on the mythical. It calls most insistently when intensity - of love, lust or grief - burst through limited expectations or circumstances to release poetry. THE TIMES - Banks keeps death in its place, under the boot of wit which knows that the most significant romance can blossom whilst your youngest brother is up to the elbow in Sugar Smacks looking for the plastic toy. OBSERVER

The tense horror of the book...is done with considerable imaginative subtlety and a fine touch....This is as fine and ambitious a novel as any from a Scottish writer since the 1960s. It is also unquestionable Bank's best work to date. NEW STATESMAN - A magnificent, rambling family saga his best novel yet. FOR HIM

Iain Banks came to widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, The Wasp Factory, in 1984. He gained enormous popular and critical acclaim for both his mainstream and his science fiction novels. Iain Banks died in June 2013.

From its bravura opening onwards, THE CROW ROAD is justly regarded as an outstanding contemporary novel.'It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat in the crematorium, listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony to Bach's Mass in B Minor, and I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallanach.'Prentice McHoan has returned to the bosom of his complex but enduring Scottish family. Full of questions about the McHoan past, present and future, he is also deeply preoccupied: mainly with death, sex, drink, God and illegal substances...

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