SHORTLISTED FOR THE FIRST EVER BOOKER PRIZE 'A MASTERPIECE... DEMANDS TO BE READ' - DOUGLAS STUART, AUTHOR OF _SHUGGIE BAIN_ Gordon M. Williams (1934 - 2017) was born in Paisley and was the author of several novels, including _From Scenes Like These,_ which was shortlisted for the first Booker Prize in 1969, _Walk Don't Walk_, _Big Morning Blues_, _The Camp_, _The Man Who Had Power Over Women,_ and _The Siege of Trencher's Farm_, which was made into the film _Straw Dogs_. He was also the ghostwriter for the autobiographies of footballers Bobby Moore, Terry Venables and Tommy Docherty. He died in 2017. JAMES ROBERTSON, AUTHOR OF _AND THE LAND LAY STILL_, JOINS ALAN TAYLOR TO DISCUSS THIS SEMINAL PIECE OF SCOTTISH LITERATURE, REPUBLISHED THIS YEAR FOR THE FIRST TIME IN DECADES. _IT'S THE WEST OF SCOTLAND IN THE 1950S. NEW HOUSES ARE GOING UP. FACTORIES ARE OPENING.__ _ _But Dunky Logan, a 15-year-old brought up in a tenement flat in working-class Kilcaddie, is ditching school to be a labourer on a local farm. Dead set on becoming a hard case, he wants to work shoulder to shoulder with so-called real men. _ _Irish Catholic Mary O'Donnell arrives at the farmhouse as the new maid. She is pregnant - no boyfriend in sight. But she's smart, and she has a plan to get herself up in the world. _ _As Dunky is swallowed up by a vicious cycle of violence, betrayal, and booze, Mary becomes entangled in a savage family feud._ _NOW THERE'S NO GOING BACK, NOT FOR EITHER OF THEM._ _'One of the finest Biritsh novels of its era. A landmark in postwar fiction. A brave and brilliant book' - Liam McIlvanney, author of The Quaker 'Raw and vigorous, harsh and authentic' Sunday Times 'A remarkable talent' Times Literary Supplement 'A rare, raw, meaty novel' Sunday Telegraph _