James Robertson is the author of four previous novels, The Fanatic, Joseph Knight, The Testament of Gideon Mack and And the Land Lay Still. The Testament of Gideon Mack was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, picked by Richard and Judy's Book Club, and shortlisted for the Saltire Book of the Year award. And the Land Lay Still was the winner of the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award 2010.
Wonderful, brilliant, panoramic, illuminating. A joy to read -- Irvine Welsh Guardian Gripping, vivid, beautifully realized The Times Powerful and moving. A brilliant and multifaceted saga of Scottish life in the second half of the twentieth century Sunday Times Toweringly ambitious, virtually flawlessly realized, a masterpiece and, without a doubt, my book of the year Daily Mail