The Sound of My Voice: Winner of Prix Millepages and Prix Lucioles, both for Best Foreign Novel

'Playful, haunting and moving, this is writing of the highest quality . . . One of the most inventive and daring novels ever to have come out of Scotland' - Ian Rankin 'One of the classic post-war Scottish novels. It's simply a roaring success on all levels; it's a genius piece of fiction' - Irvine Welsh 'A profound and beautifully written study of human fragility in the face of the brutalism of modern life' - James Robertson 'One of the best books I have ever read' - Philipa Coughlin, Nudge Books 'Deserves to be talked about in the same breath as Saul Bellow's Seize the Day' - Metro Morris Magellan is thirty-four years old and already two-thirds destroyed. By day he is an executive, after six and at weekends the husband of an understanding wife and the father of two. At all times he is a music lover and a drunk. Of the past he remembers only fear, and of the future he senses even greater terror to come; he is a man struggling from... A novel of an ordinary family man trying to fill the void inside with drink: “One of the greatest pieces of fiction to come out of Britain in the Eighties.” —Irvine Welsh Morris Magellan is thirty-four years old and already two-thirds destroyed. By day he is an executive. After six and on weekends he is the husband of an understanding wife and the father of two. At all times he is a music lover and a drunk. Of the past he remembers only fear, and of the future he senses even greater terror to come; he is a man struggling from moment to moment to salvage something of himself before that too slips from his grasp. On one level The Sound of My Voice tells the story of an alcoholic: a frantic attempt by some inner voice to halt an apparent need for self-destruction. More generally, it presents the conflict between modern man’s cowardice and cruelty, and a desperate attempt to recover humanity. “One of the most inventive and daring novels ever to have come out of Scotland. Playful, haunting and moving, this is writing of the highest quality.” —Ian Rankin “A powerful portrait of alcoholism and self-destruction.” — Bookseller Morris Magellan wakes one morning to find himself stuck in a corporate job and living the suburban dream with a wife and two children, except this dream feels like a nightmare. Out of his depth and starting to drift from reality, we meet Morris at the precipice. Bit by bit he is losing his struggle with addiction – he just doesn't know it yet. His only solace and escape from suburban family life and corporate duties is music and alcohol. His life is soundtracked with symphonies and concertos, every note, and every drink, carries him from moment to moment hoping to salvage something of himself before that too slips from his grasp. Harrowing but compellingly written, with humour and compassion, The Sound of My Voice is a stylistic masterpiece that presents conflict between a man's cowardice and cruelty, and a desperate attempt to recover his humanity. "Morris Magellan is thirty-four years old and already two-thrids destroyed. By day he is an executive in a biscuit factory, after six and at weekends the husband of an understanding wife and father of two. At all times he is a music lover and a drunk."-- Provided by publisher