‘His persistent creativity for a half-century makes this Scottish writer worthy of the greatest respect throughout the English-language world.’ – Paul Binding, Guardian
‘Let me alert everyone to the best-kept secret in modern British literature . . . if you are interested in books that are humane and wise, not slick and cynical; then treat yourself this year to some Robin Jenkins.’ – Andrew Marr
‘Many people can produce a novel, but very few are authentic writers whose sentences and paragraphs give intrinsic pleasure. Jenkins is one of them.’ – J. B. Pick
‘Jenkins [is] a remarkable writer whose gentlest touch induces the greatest of pleasures.’ – The Times
Robin Jenkins gets inside the soul of an isolated young boy, Matthew, who is abandoned by his painter father after his mother’s death and is left to be brought up by his sternly religious relatives and a family housekeeper. At school Matthew encounters the angelic Sheila, a preternaturally bright child, who reveals to him that she has in fact committed murder in the past. When Matthew’s father returns to the household with a new wife, Matthew decides to put Sheila’s claims to the test.
John Robin Jenkins was born in 1912, one of four children, in the village of Flemington, near Cambuslang. He studied English at the University of Glasgow. When World War II broke out, he registered as a conscientious objector and was directed to work for the Forestry Commission; he used this experience in the acclaimed novel, The Cone Gatherers. In 1957, he moved abroad to work in Spain, Afghanistan and Malaysia. In 1968, he settled in Dunoon where he remained for the rest of his life. In 2002 he received the Saltire Society’s Award for Lifetime Achievement. He died in 2005. Widely regarded as one of Scotland’s greatest ever writers and once described as Scotland’s Thomas Hardy, Robin Jenkins was one of the major forces of twentieth-century British literature.
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