'Fuck everyone from Holden Caulfield to Bridget Jones, fuck all the American and English phoney fictions that claim to speak for us; they don't know the likes of us exist and they never did. We are who we are because we grew up the Stornoway way. We do not live in the back of beyond, we live in the very heart of beyond ...'

Meet R Stornoway, drink-addled misfit, inhabitant of the Hebridean Isle of Lewis, and meandering man fighting to break free of an island he just can't seem to let go of...

About the Author

Kevin MacNeil was born and raised on the Isle of Lewis. He was British Council Writer in Residence at Uppsala University, Sweden, 2002-3 and inaugural Iain Crichton Smith Writing Fellow in the Scottish Highlands. His poetry has been translated into 10 languages and he has performed his English and Gaelic work in places as diverse as Columbia, Malta, America, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and the Czech Republic. He has also written for radio, television and film. This is his first novel.


A lyrically powerful and no-holds-barred exploration of contemporary life in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The novel is rendered by means of a multiplicity of arresting narrativve voices, shared between the author and his pseudonymous compatriot 'R. Stornoway'.

Book Information
ISBN 9780141021607
Author Kevin MacNeil
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 145g
Dimensions(mm) 1mm * 1mm * 1mm