'As good as anything Banks has ever written, if not better' 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 Alban over Sophie, his bewitching cousin and teenage love?


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

Dark family secrets and a passionate love affair, full of his trademark warmth, humanity and ingenuity, Iain Banks's classic novel is reissued with a striking new cover

About the Author
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.

Reviews
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 *



Book Information
ISBN 9780349139142
Author Iain Banks
Format Paperback
Page Count 400
Imprint Abacus
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 274g
Dimensions(mm) 199mm * 137mm * 26mm