The Crow Road: Iain Banks

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...