Dirt Road - Softcover

Dirt Road is brilliant . . . a deeply moving and exciting novel -- RODDY DOYLE Kelman in the American South, with a zydeco lilt, proves irresistible - a thrilling return from one of our most essential novelists -- KEVIN BARRY In writing as pure as this, language becomes the very bones and meat of the characters. I am not transported by these sentences into Murdo's world; I am Murdo -- ROSS RAISIN Strange and beautiful . . . Kelman gives us visceral vernacular, Joycean stream of consciousness, wry humor, old resentments and painful memories, all in counterpoint to the music on and off stage . . . A celebration of what it is to be human * * Spectator * * Beautiful. Dirt Road is about coming of age, grief and the folk music of the American deep south * * Daily Telegraph * * Draws you like a magnet * * Herald Scotland * * In Dirt Road James Kelman brings alive a human consciousness like no other writer can -- ALAN WARNER Another masterpiece from one of our best writers -- KIRSTY GUNN * * Guardian * * A true original . . . A real artist -- IRVINE WELSH * * Guardian * * A delight . . . The best thing [Kelman] has written -- ALLAN MASSIE * * Scotsman * * Probably the most influential novelist of the post-war period * * The Times * * The greatest British novelist of our time * * Sunday Herald * * A writer of world stature, a 21st century Modern * * Scotsman * * The greatest living British novelist * * Amit Chaudhuri * * To call him a great Scottish writer would be accurate; to call him simply a great writer would be more concise * * Herald * * One of the most influential writers of his generation * * Guardian * * A beautifully-coloured account of loss and love . . . Like a camera on Murdo's shoulder, we see the world as the boy sees it, sensing the miracle of his emergence as a confident young man * * The Times * * Beautiful and musical -- Nick Major * * The National * * Poignant and beautiful * * Independent * * Quietly, subtly Kelman peels back the veil of daily life to reveal the urgent struggle of a sixteen-year-old coming to terms with death. This is a brilliant book, and like all great works of art, it is universal-whether you're reading it in Scotland, Hampstead, or Alabama * * Times Literary Supplement * * Dirt Road is a life-affirming novel, in which Kelman paints a convincing and at times moving portrait of two likable characters on the road to fulfillment and recovery * * Observer * *

Murdo, a teenager obsessed with music, dreams of a life beyond his Scottish island home. His dad Tom has recently lost his wife and stumbles towards the future, terrified of losing control of what remains of his family life Both are in search of something as they set out on an expedition into the American South. As they travel they encounter a new world and we discover whether the hopes of youth can conquer the fears of age. Dirt Road is a major novel exploring the brevity of life, the agonising demands of love and the lure of the open road. It is also a beautiful book about the power of music and all that it can offer.