The Steep Approach to Garbadale

Dark family secrets and a long-lost love affair lie at the heart of a fabulous new novel by the author of Matterand The Wasp Factory The Wopuld family built its fortune on a board game called Empire!, now a hugely successful computer game. So successful, in fact, that the American Spraint Corp wants to buy the firm out. Young renegade Alban, who has evaded the family clutches for years, is run to ground and persuded to attend the forthcoming family gathering--part birthday party, part Extraordinary General Meeting--convened by Win, Wopuld matriarch and most powerful member of the board, at Garbadale, the family's highland castle. Being drawn back into the bosom of the clan brings a disconcerting confrontation with Alban's past. What drove his mother to take her own life? And is he ready to see Sophie, his beautiful cousin and teenage love? Grandmother Win's revelations will radically alter Alban's perspective forever.

Iain Banks has gained enormous popular and critical acclaim for both his mainstream and his science fiction novels. He is perhaps best known for his Culture series of novels, which includes Consider Phlebas, Matter, and Surface Detail.