When his debut novel Morvern Callar came out in 1995, Alan Warner was rightly hailed as an extraordinary new talent. Literary labels tend to be both misleading and offputting, and there was always something rather patronising about the so-called Scottish literary renaissance - as if Warner, Irvine Welsh et al were the first Scots to write anything decent in years. But Morvern Callar deserved - deserves - every bit of praise going its way. A forthcoming film looks set to keep up the attention.

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