Canongate Classics

This hilarious novel charts the rise and fall (and perhaps the rise again) of Magnus Merriman-would-be lover, writer, politician, idealist and crofter-moved by dreams of greatness and a talent for farcical defeat.

Convinced that ''small nations are safer to live in than big ones'', Magnus becomes a Nationalist candidate for the parliamentary seat of ''Kinluce''.

With details based on Linklater''s own experiences in an East Fife by-election in 1933, the way is set for a satirical and irreverent portrait of Scottish life, literature and politics in the 1930s. Nothing is sacred and no-one is spared.