The Kiln — William McIlvanney

A novel of dreams, disappointments, and detours: “Pitch-perfect . . . excruciatingly funny . . . a beguilingly brilliant portrait of the artist as an adolescent.” -- The Sunday Times
 
Named Scottish Book of the Year by the Saltire Society
 
Tam Docherty was seventeen in the summer of 1955. With school behind him and a summer job at a brick works, Tom had his whole life before him.
 
Years later, alone in a rented flat in Edinburgh and lost in memories, Tom recalls the intellectual and sexual awakening of his youth. In looking back, Tom discovers that only by understanding where he comes from can he make sense of his life as it is now.
 
A follow-up to the author's prize-winning novel Docherty, which focused on Tam's namesake grandfather, this is a “beautifully written” story of boyhood, manhood, and the sometimes blurry border between them (The Times, London).
 
“On almost every page it offers matter for reflection and the sudden stab of emotion that comes from reading something that is truly evoked or created . . . It is rare and it is wonderful.” -- The Scotsman