That Was a Shiver, and Other Stories

SHORTLISTED FOR SALTIRE FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017A local tries to sell his sister to a trucker as he passes through town; a couple put their children to bed and hear a loud scratching at the wall; a man looks into a mirror and reflects on becoming more like his father.Sparky, touching and brilliantly daring, these stories uncover human feeling in the ordinary and the everyday, and are a reminder of Kelman’s exceptional talent.

Reviews of That Was a Shiver, and Other Stories

Kelman is on another level to most of the living writers in the UK * * Guardian * * Kelman has always been a true and honest writer; which is why he is one of the fairly few who really matter — ALLAN MASSIE * * Scotsman * * Brilliant . . . this collection shows a writer who is still at the top of his game, brimming with creativity, vitality and artistic integrity * * Irish Independent * * Like the best short story writers – James Joyce, Kafka, John Cheever, Alice Munro – he has reinvented the form * * The Herald * * Kelman brings alive a human consciousness like no other writer can — ALAN WARNER PRAISE FOR THE STORIES OF JAMES KELMAN:Tender and funny in a way that may surprise those who know him only by reputation * * Daily Telegraph * * A rollicking, riveting read . . . Kelman's language of inner thought is so fluid and immediate it reads more like breath than words * * Daily Herald * * The mixture of the precisely but surreally bureaucratic and the casually macabre is perfectly judged * * Sunday Times * * You only have to read one phrase to recognise his utterly distinctive voice: lyrical, philosophical as a pub stool resident and steeped in the street . . . The result, for those who take words seriously, is canonical and pure joy * * Metro * * Kelman's language is immediately exciting; like a musician, he uses repetition and rhythm * * New Yorker * *