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  • Published: 15 May 2011
  • ISBN: 9780099539858
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $27.99

The Death of Lomond Friel




A stunning debut novel about a family in crisis, written with extraordinary compassion, humour and grace. A young woman's life is thrown into disarray when her father has a stroke.

WINNER OF THE SALTIRE FIRST BOOK AWARD

When Rosie, a successful radio presenter, hears that her father has had a stroke, her life is thrown into disarray and she finds herself making reckless decisions that make little sense to those around her. As she strives towards building some kind of future for herself and her father, he quietly plots his own death . . .

Set on the east coast of Scotland, the novel covers events in the weeks following the stroke and the lives of this small cast of captivating but very real characters. Exploring the impact of memory and conscience, it tackles a family at a time of crisis, delving into the complexities of emotions and family history with compassion, humour and grace.

Winner of the Saltire Society First Book Award.

  • Published: 15 May 2011
  • ISBN: 9780099539858
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $27.99

About the author

Sue Peebles

Sue Peebles was born in Arbroath in 1955. She spent some of her childhood in Detroit before returning to Scotland, where she now lives. Since graduating in Psychology she has worked as a researcher, social worker and university teacher. Her first novel, The Death of Lomond Friel, won the Scottish First Book Award and the Saltire First Book Award, and was shortlisted for Scottish Book of the Year. Her second novel, Snake Road, has been shortlisted for the Encore Award 2014.

Also by Sue Peebles

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Praise for The Death of Lomond Friel

I loved it...it's about human relationships, stark and simple, when they are tested to the limit. Who would have thought a novel about a stroke could be so compelling?... An excellent novel, tender and witty and shot through with perception of many kinds

Margaret Forster

The Death of Lomond Friel is a very fine first novel, full of emotion, laced with wit, and crowded with observations of the surface absurdities and hidden pains of being human. It marks Sue Peebles as an assured and cunning writer

James Robertson

This sensitive and moving narrative brings vivid, life-sized characters together in a powerful and meaningful manner. Peebles writes with an emotive energy and a lyricism that is open-hearted, focused and soulful. A debut novel worth indulging in if you'd like to introduce into your life a touch more clarity, insight and grace

Kevin MacNeil

A book that stayed with me long after I'd turned the final page. Despite their weaknesses and problems I wanted to keep hanging out with Rosie Friel and her family. Sue Peebles has created a very real cast of characters and rendered them with such style and verve, I really didn't want to let them go. She has a great future as a writer

Louise Welsh

If there is justice in the world she will be collecting prizes by the basketload for this extraordinary novel

Lesley McDowell, The Scotsman

In this debut novel Sue Peebles shows herself to be a deft wordsmith, grounded, subtle, and funny

Jennie Renton, Scottish Review of Books

The delicacy and care with which she draws the stricken Lomond is the outstanding feat of this ambitions work

Rosemary Goring, Sunday Herald

Piercingly lovely...a pleasure to read

Catherine Taylor, Guardian

Peebles tells this story with skill, tempering a potentially saccharine plot with a wry authorial gaze

Adrian Turpin, Financial Times

A vibrant, witty and passionate tale of a family struggling to overcome tragedy...Peebles' prose is consistently startling - there isn't an ordinary or hackneyed sentence or sentiment in the book...beautifully expresses the joys and tribulations of family life

Ian Critchley, Daily Telegraph

Shot through with a fizzing mix of philosophy and comedy

Piers Plowright, The Tablet

An unusual, loveable debut...that explores the complexities of family relationships and the weight of memory

Natalie Young, The Times, Christmas round up

An unusual, loveable debut about a father and his daugther on the East Coast of Scotland...superbly written with a small cast of memorable characters

Erica Wagner, The Times, Christmas round up

The beautiful debut by Scottish novelist Sue Peebles. This tale of a daughter caring for her father who has suffered a stroke is psychologically true and elegantly portrayed

Lesley McDowell, Sunday Herald, Christmas round up

The best debut I read...sharp, tender, wicked, and beautifully poised prose that reads like the work of an accomplished novelist

Gavin Wallace, Sunday Herald, Christmas round up