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William McIlvanney Books In Order

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Publication Order of Jack Laidlaw Books

with Ian Rankin
Laidlaw (1977)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Papers of Tony Veitch (1983)Description / Buy at Amazon
Strange Loyalties (1991)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Dark Remains (With: Ian Rankin) (2021)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Dark Remains is a prequel.

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Shades of Grey (1993)Description / Buy at Amazon
Dreaming Scotland (2014)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Poems/Short Story Collections

The Longships In Harbour (1970)Description / Buy at Amazon
Landscapes & Figures (1973)Description / Buy at Amazon
These Words (1984)Description / Buy at Amazon
Walking Wounded (1989)Description / Buy at Amazon
Surviving the Shipwreck (1991)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Anthologies

William McIlvanney was a noteworthy author from Scotland, who was famous for writing short stories, poems, and full length novels. He was particularly well known for writing mysteries, thrillers, and literature & fiction books. The writing career of author McIlvanney consists of several standalone novels as well as a novel series called Jack Laidlaw. McIlvanney was typically known as Willi among his acquaintances and friends. Author McIlanney was considered a champion writer of gritty, poetic literature. In most of his literary work, he has portrayed Glasgow from the time of the 1970’s, which was liked by many readers. Author McIlvanney is known for introducing the Tartan Noir and is regarded as the Camus of Scotland. McIlvanney was born as William Angus McIlvanney on November 25, 1936. His birth had taken place in Kilmarnock, Scotland. Author McIlvanney was the 4th child of his parents. His father used to work as a miner. The schooling of McIlvanney was done at the Kilmarnock Academy. Later, he completed his graduation from the Glasgow University in the subject of English. Author McIlvanney also holds a Master of Arts degree, which he earned from the same university in 1960. Following his MA, he started working as a teacher of English, teaching school kids until the year 1975. When author McIlvanney got interesting in writing stories, he left his teaching job at the Greenwood Academy, where he was the assistant headmaster, and began pursuing the new career path of writing. In addition to writing books and stories, author McIlvanney used to contribute newspaper columns in a number of daily newspaper on a regular basis. He was also the narrator and writer of the football documentary of BBC Scotland, Only A Game?, which was broadcast in 1986. Author McIlvanney had strong views on socialism and held on to them all his life. Like many other people in his Scottish background, he too was a strong opposer of Thatcherism. McIlvanney was highly disappointed because of the Labor shift under Blair. By the year 2014, he had acquired the feeling, though with a lot of hesitation, that the Independence of Scotland might possibly be the best solution politically.

Author McIlvanney’s death occurred on December 5, 2015, due to a short illness. When the news of his death spread in the media, numerous public figures paid tribute to him, noting his gentlemanly and likeable personality as well as his inspirational writing. The ones who paid tribute included Ian Rankin, Irvine Welsh, Nicola Sturgeon, and many others. The Telegraph described the inspirational life of author McIlvanney in their obituary by saying that many writers are admired and respected, but very few are loved the way he was loved. Author McIlvanney has an older brother named Hugh McIlvanney, who is renowned sports journalist. ‘Remedy Is None’ was the first book that McIlvanney wrote in his career in 1966. This book received the Geoffrey Faber Prize in the following year. Another book written by McIlvanney, Docherty, was awarded with the Whitbread Novel Prize. The book was highly praised for the depiction of the endurance and courage of a mine worker. In 1985, The Big Man was published, which described the story of an unemployed man named Dan Scoular who takes up bare knuckle fighting for his livelihood. This novel, along with Docherty, features McIlvanney’s typically strong, violent, and tough men, who go through a lot of struggle with their background and nature. This book was adapted into a 1990 movie featuring Liam Neeson and Billy Connolly in lead roles. The movie was directed by David Leland. The poetic contributions of McIlvanney show several instances of journalism. In 2013, the writings of McIlvanney were regularly displayed on his personal website. The writings featured reflective, topical, and personal writing, and a few examples of journalism.

A popular standalone book written by William McIlvanney is entitled ‘Weekend’. This book was released by the Sceptre publication in 2007. At the start of this novel, it is shown that a group of students and lecturers of English Literature from Glasgow arrives at a Victorian mansion hotel, located on Scottish island. Their intention is to indulge in a weekend of study. However, many of them do not really intend to do only study for the whole weekend as the beautiful location increases their temptation to go out and enjoy. In the end, the weekend proves to be a turning point in the lives of some emotional people. But, the ways in which the changes occur were not expected by any of the lecturers or students. The novel appears to be entertaining and thought provoking at the same time. It illustrates the necessary conundrum of the human nature in a brilliant way. The story proves the fact the human nature is driven by the animal instincts. But, the humans also have the mental ability to harness, analyze, and rue all such instincts. This also proves that the humans do not stop dreaming even though many of their dreams turn out be failures.

Another mind blowing book penned by author McIlvanney is called ‘The Kiln’. It was also published by the Sceptre publishers, in 1997. Author McIlvanney has created the principle character of this book’s story as Tom Docherty, who is the grandson of the titular character of his 1975 novel, Docherty. The plot of this book is set in the summer of the year 1955 in Edinburgh, and features the same family within 2 different generations. At the beginning of the book, Tom Docherty is introduced as a 17 year old boy. He has just passed out from school and now looks forward to his summer job at a company of brick works. Tom believes that he has his whole life in front of him and so he has planned to do a lot of things in the future. But, after several years, Tom Docherty is seen staying alone in one of Edinburgh’s rented flats. He appears to be lost in his memories, recalling the sexual and intellectual awakening that he had during his youth. As Tom looks back at his life, he discovers that he can make sense of what his life is at the moment only if understands where he has come from. This novel went on to win the book of the year award of Scotland by the Saltire Society in 1996. Just all the other books of author McIlvanney, the characters from this book also seem very much likeable. Even the sublime writing of author McIlvanney was highly praised by the critics and the readers.

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