The Professor of Truth

"The Professor of Truth" is the newest novel by Saltire prizewinner James Robertson. Twenty-one years after his wife and daughter were murdered in the bombing of a plane over Scotland, Alan Tealing, a university lecturer, still does not know the truth of what really happened on that terrible night. Obsessed by the details of what he has come to call The Case, he is sure that the man convicted of the atrocity was not responsible, and that he himself has thus been deprived not only of justice but also of any chance of escape from his enduring grief.

When an American intelligence officer, apparently terminally ill and determined to settle his own accounts before death, arrives on his doorstep with information about a key witness in the trial, a fateful sequence of events is set in motion. Alan decides that he must travel to Australia to confront this witness, whose evidence he has always disbelieved, in the hope that this might at last be the breakthrough for which he has waited so long. Praise for "The Testament of Gideon Mack": "The story of a Presbyterian minister who comes back from a near-death experience claiming that he has met the devil, this is both a hugely gripping tale and a fascinating examination of the difference between faith and belief".

("FT Magazine"). "A masterly piece of storytelling (and Scottish soul-reaching)". (James Naughtie, "Herald").

Praise for "And the Land Lay Still": "A wonderful novel ...panoramic, illuminating and compassionate ...the book represents nothing less than a landmark for the novel in Scotland, and underlines the author's position as one of Britain's best contemporary novelists". (Irvine Welsh, "Guardian"). "Bold, discursive and deep, Robertson's sweeping history of life and politics in twentieth-century Scotland should not be ignored".

("Observer"). James Robertson is the author of four previous novels, "The Fanatic", "Joseph Knight", "The Testament of Gideon Mack" and "And the Land Lay Still". "Joseph Knight" was awarded the two major Scottish literary awards in 2003/4 - the Saltire Book of the Year and the Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year - and "The Testament of Gideon Mack" was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, picked by Richard and Judy's Book Club, and shortlisted for the Saltire Book of the Year award.

"And the Land Lay Still" was the winner of the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award 2010.