The Steep Approach To Garbadale

Dark family secrets and a long-lost love affair lie at the heart of Iain Banks's fabulous new novel.

The Wopuld family built its fortune on a board game called Empire! - now a hugely successful computer game. So successful, the American Spraint Corp wants to buy the firm out. Young renegade Alban, who has been evading the family clutches for years, is run to ground and persuded to attend the forthcoming family gathering - part birthday party, part Extraordinary General Meeting - convened by Win, Wopuld matriarch and most powerful member of the board, at Garbadale, the family's highland castle.

Being drawn back into the bosom of the clan brings a disconcerting confrontation with Alban's past. What drove his mother to take her own life? And is he ready to see Sophie, his beautiful cousin and teenage love? Grandmother Win's revelations wll radically alter Alban's perspective for ever.

“* 'A novel that could easily replace THE CROW ROAD as his career highlight-- MAXIM”

As good as anything Banks has ever written, if not better Sunday Telegraph
Chock-a-block with the author's inimitable quirky magic Financial Times
What Banks serves up is both unanticipated and terrifying. The fates of his characters are genuinely affecting Evening Standard
Compellingly, beautifully crafted... A fascinating read New Books Magazine
Banks still has the ability to make the reader smile with pleasure Scotland on Sunday
A novel that could easily replace The Crow Road as his career highlight Maxim
Banks begins his most consistent book since The Crow Road with slight-of-hand tricks displaying the master in rude form... These shifts in voice are so perfect, so clean and witty that when Alban comes to the fore, we feel he's one of us Waterstones Books Quarterly *

Iain Banks came to widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, THE WASP FACTORY, in 1984. He has since gained enormous popular and critical acclaim for both his mainstream and his science fiction novels.

'There are so many larger-than-life characters in this wonderful novel . . . It is the story of one young man's getting of wisdom, an oblique but observant history of Britain from the 1980s to the present day, and a great game of consequences' Sunday Telegraph After years of exile, Alban Wopuld has been summoned back to his family's highland estate, Garbadale. The Wopuld clan are closing ranks. They have built their fortune on the boardgame Empire! - which has become a hugely successful computer game - and now the Americans want to buy them out. As the family gathers for their Extraordinary General Meeting, old grudges, forbidden passions and dark secrets emerge. What drove Alban's mother to take her own life? And is he over Sophie, his bewitching cousin and teenage love? 'His most accomplished book since The Crow Road . From the moment it begins there is an immediate sense of being in safe hands . . . A first-rate novel' Matt Thorne, Literary Review

Dark family secrets and a long-lost love affair lie at the heart of Iain Banks's fabulous new novel.The Wopuld family built its fortune on a board game called Empire! - now a hugely successful computer game. So successful, the American Spraint Corp wants to buy the firm out. Young renegade Alban, who has been evading the family clutches for years, is run to ground and persuded to attend the forthcoming family gathering - part birthday party, part Extraordinary General Meeting - convened by Win, Wopuld matriarch and most powerful member of the board, at Garbadale, the family's highland castle.Being drawn back into the bosom of the clan brings a disconcerting confrontation with Alban's past. What drove his mother to take her own life? And is he ready to see Sophie, his beautiful cousin and teenage love? Grandmother Win's revelations wll radically alter Alban's perspective for ever.

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