The Fall of Kelvin Walker — Alasdair Gray

It is the Swinging Sixties and Kelvin Walker has moved from Scotland to London to make his fortune. Through his wanton ambition, a megalomania surfaces that is unrelieved by his insensitive attempts at friendship and romance. Yet is he all bad, or are the true villains the establishment figures who he tricks and deceives? And, ultimately, does it matter?

Gray's twist on the follies of religion, the media and the imperial British centre is as relevant now as ever.