» Update your details

• Extract
• Synopsis
• Reviews
• Product details

• Biography
• More titles by James Kelman

Synopsis

Rejected by his brother and largely ignored by his parents, Kieron Smith finds comfort - and endless stories - in the home of his much-loved grandparents. But when his family move to a new housing scheme on the outskirts of Glasgow, a world away from the close community of the tenements, Kieron struggles to find a way to adapt to his new life.

Kieron Smith, boy is a brilliant evocation of an urban childhood. Capturing the joys, frustrations, injustices, excitements, revels, battles, games, uncertainties, questions, lies, discoveries and sheer of wonder of boyhood, it is a story of one boy and every boy. It is James Kelman at his very best.

» Read the first pages of Kieron Smith, Boy by downloading the Penguin Taster here

» Visit Penguin Tasters

Reviews

Critic Review:

'Magnificent and important . . . might just be Kelman’s greatest achievement to date'
Irvine Welsh, Financial Times

'A vibrant, beautiful portrait of childhood'
The Times

'I have read no other depiction of the inner life of a boy that comes as close as this to The Catcher in the Rye' 
Literary Review

'Probably the most influential novelist of the post-war period'
The Times

‘Exhilaratingly good, beautifully done. Rings true at every turn’
Sunday Telegraph

‘The finest book of his life’
Spectator

'Intensely rewarding, unforgettable'
Metro

‘Outstanding’
Independent

‘Remarkable’
Sunday Times

‘Exceptional’
London Review of Books

‘Mesmerizing’
Herald

Product details

Shipped within 24hrs.
FREE UK Delivery*

• Full delivery details

• » View your basket