Shrapnel

Description

CLÀR, 2006. 175 pages.

Set in Edinburgh’s underbelly, awash with drunks and criminals, where only a thin membrane separating peace and violence, the cast of characters works like the multitudinous voices of a Robert Altman film, all speaking simultaneously. From Donati’s to the Black Bull, from the Cowgate to the National Gallery; through the backstreets, dives and basements of the capital; we ride with them through their thoughts and adventures and, occasionally, through their dreams and nightmares to the denouement where the true nature of Shrapnel, and his enmity, is revealed.

‘Where Tormod Caimbeul’s classic, astonishing novel of 1979, Deireadh an Fhoghair (The End of Autumn), portrayed rural isolation, this time his environment is entirely different. It is Edinburgh’s underbelly. And he retains our attention and interest in every incident, good or bad, right to the end of this equally astonishing story, without once losing our engagement with a rabble where no individual can hold any attraction for us.’
Aonghas MacNeacail, writer and broadcaster

“Caimbeul has a gift for dialogue, especially humorous, ironic or cynical dialogue…Shrapnel represents a major step in terms of genre development in Gaelic fiction.”
Moray Watson, An Introduction to Gaelic Fiction p.174