Product Description

An impressive debut from an exciting new Scottish voice -- a stunning novel about history, identity and redemption. A no. 2 best-seller in Scotland. It is Spring 1997 and Hugh Hardie needs a ghost for his Tours of Old Edinburgh. Andrew Carlin is the perfect candidate. So, with cape, stick and a plastic rat, Carlin is paid to pretend to be the spirit of Colonel Weir and to scare the tourists. But who is Colonel Weir, executed for witchcraft in 1670. In his research, Carlin is drawn into the past, in particular to James Mitchel, the fanatic and co-congregationist of Weir's, who was tried in 1676 for the attempted assassination of the Archbishop of St Andrews, James Sharp. Through the story of two moments in history, 'The Fanatic' is an extraordinary history of Scotland. It is also the story of betrayals, witch hunts, Puritan exiles, stolen meetings, lost memories, smuggled journeys and talking mirrors which will confirm James Robertson as a distinctive and original Scottish writer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #147799 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 310 pages

Review
'Utterly compelling.' The Times 'A remarkable book.' Observer 'Robertson takes not just history but the notion of history; not just the question of what truth is but the act of questioning itself and breathes and extraordinary life into them!In this complex, superbly claustrophobic novel where everything is meticulously researched, and just as importantly, meticulously imagined, he urges us to see ourselves anew.' Scotland on Sunday 'A revelatory post card from clenched, pre-millennial Scotland, packed with incisive social comments and cracking set pieces. 'The Fanatic' is a rattling good read.' Independent on Sunday

From the Publisher
REVIEWS
‘It is a cheering thing to be able to welcome a serious novel, mostly set in the 1670s, which has a lot to say about Scotland today . . . A remarkable book.’ Andrew Marr, Observer

‘Utterly compelling, The Fanatic is the sort of debut that sadly comes along only too rarely.’ The Times

‘Scottish history has never been so gripping’ Sunday Herald

‘Robertson has delivered a revelatory postcard from clenched, pre-millennial Scotland, packed with incisive social comments and cracking set pieces. The Fanatic is a rattling good read.’ Independent on Sunday

About the Author
James Robertson is a journalist, critic and poet. He is the author of two collections of short stories, 'Close' and 'The Ragged Man's Complaint', and a collection of Scottish ghost stories. His first novel, 'The Fanatic', was published in 2001 and his second, 'Joseph Knight' in 2003. He lives in Fife.

Customer Reviews

an extraordinary historical novel
I'm not Scottish; James Robertson's book is. That's what gives it its flavour. But its atmosphere and intelligence is such that - despite the Scots language (or dialect - let's not get into that) used, it will reach beyond a purely national audience.
This is a book that should appeal to everyone who has ever enjoyed a history documentary; or a big biography of, say, Henry VIII or Richard III or Julius Caesar.

Certainly, Robertson writes with a focused historian's vision: The Fanatic's main subject is the intractable, often bewildering religious disputes of the 17th century (mixed with a dash of modern-day Edinburgh, with all its tourist and students and flakes). And the author, though he's an accesible writer, does not dumb down for his readers

But this novel is also about a time when committing to a cause meant something, and when the stakes of standing up for a belief were so much higher than today. The phrase "sticking your neck out" doesn't come from nowhere...

Top class. I'm on tenterhooks for the sequel

An important advance in Scottish writing
Robertson's novel, as well as being a gripping, trans-historical yarn about demonology, depression and detectives, is an important advance in what Scotland can offer in terms of literary fiction. Forget the slumming it shabby-chic of the Irvine Welsh clones, this is a novelist ready to grapple with Ideas, and prosecute them through engaged narrative. A fugue between the past and the present, a dialectic, an argument and above all an urgency.

Naw bad - but doesn't add up to the sum of its parts
James Robertsons novel weaves together (not entirely convincingly) stories set in Edinburgh in 1990s and the 1670s. The novel deals with little discussed aspect of Scottish history and juxtaposes it with modern day events, most specifically the 1997 General election.

The historical aspects of the novel are well done dramatic but at the same time credible - you believe that what you are reading is close to the truth. However the more current storyline is thin and seems a little forced in its symbolism.

While the historical characters really come to life only one of the modern characters is more than paper thin.

All in all a decent, entertaining and informative read, but be prepared for loats aw brawd Scots dialekt!