Stonemouth

Stonemouth is a 2012 novel by Scottish author Iain Banks. The novel was published on 5 April 2012 by Little, Brown and Company and follows a man returning to a small seaport town after being forced to flee five years earlier. The Irish Times picked the book as one of their "Books to Read in 2012".^[1]

Stonemouth

First edition
Author	Iain Banks
Language	English
Publisher	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date	5 April 2012
Publication place	Scotland
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	368 pp
ISBN	1408702509

Plot summary

Stewart Gilmour returns to Stonemouth, a fictional seaport town north of Aberdeen, for a funeral. It is five years since he ran away to London after a sexual indiscretion at a wedding. Stonemouth is controlled by two rival gangs, the Murstons and the MacAvetts, and Gilmour was engaged to a member of the former clan before he had to leave.^[2]

Reception

Critical reception for Stonemouth was mostly positive.^[3][4] Some criticisms of the book included some of the references to modern technology being "unauthentic",^[5] while praise for the novel centred on the plot's mystery.^[6]

Adaptation

An adaptation for BBC Television was announced in 2014, starring Christian Cooke as Stewart Gilmour, with Peter Mullan, Sharon Small and Gary Lewis. Location filming^[7] took place in Macduff, Aberdeenshire in November 2014. It premiered on 8 June 2015 on BBC One Scotland, and 11 June 2015 on BBC Two in the rest of the UK.^[8]