Review: The Quaker by Liam McIlvanney
Another cracking horse in the Scottish fiction stable, The Quaker is set in Glasgow at the end of the 1960s. Anyone from this neck of the woods will recognise the basis of the plot as being the still-unsolved Bible John murders of three young woman who are believed to have met their killer ‘up the dancing’, at the Barrowlands. These happened a dozen or so years before I was even born, but they left an indelible mark on the city; they are part of the cultural consciousness. Everyone knows someone who was pulled in for questioning, perhaps repeatedly, and given a “this man is not Bible John” card by the police - a detail that is included in The Quaker.
The Quaker
Harper Collins, 2018
The Quaker’s good-guy protagonist is DI Duncan McCormack, a Ballachulish lad who is building himself a good reputation and a solid career in the Glasgow polis. He’s been brought in to try to kick-start the stalled investigation into the killings. He has his own secrets though, and his whole livelihood will be threatened if it gets out; now there’s a whole investigation team who are angry at his perceived interference. The stakes are high.
The novel does a superb job of portraying a city on the brink of regeneration. Glasgow’s slum tenements are being demolished, and there is better housing on its way - but in 1969 there was still whole areas of near-abandoned streets and vermin-infested flats. There is a creeping sense of menace throughout the whole book. Son of William McIlvanney, there are certainly echoes of Laidlaw in Liam’s writing.
McIlvanney paints a picture, too, of rapid social change and evolving attitudes. The late 60s and early 70s were by all accounts a time of rapid adjustments and embracing new ideas. Liam McIlvanney writes of a Glasgow that is torn between its traditional values and this new forward-facing world; of people struggling to accept that their judgements and preconceptions may no longer hold such sway. And yet those people are still the ones in positions of power and influence. Maybe not much changes after all.
The Quaker was bought on a recommendation from the lovely Ruth of Well Read Books in Wigtown, when I visited in 2019. I would very much like to return sometime - the town is like Alton Towers for booklovers!
