A NOVEL charting 60 years of cultural and political change in Scotland by Edinburgh Napier University's writer-in-residence had won the prestigious Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year award.
James Robertson was presented with the title for his fourth novel, And the Land Lay Still, at a high-profile ceremony at The National Library of Scotland.
It is the second time the author has won it, having also claimed the prize in 2003 for Joseph Knight, which was also voted the Scottish Arts Council's book of the year.
Robertson's other novels are The Fanatic and The Testament of Gideon Mack, the latter being shortlisted for the Saltire award and the Man Booker prize in 2006.
And the Land Lay Still examines the cultural changes in Scotland between the Second World War and the founding of the Scottish Parliament, and how the aspirations of many Scots for a socialist Britain gave way to a resurgent nationalism and a greater demand for home rule.
Publisher Hamish Hamilton calls it "a searching journey into the heart of a country… brilliantly blending the personal and the political to reveal a rich mosaic of 20th-century Scottish life".
Full report at The Scotsman.
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