Stonemouth by Iain Banks (Little, Brown)

by Patrick O'Connor

YOU should never go back could be the morale of this novel.

Stewart Gilmour has a successful career in London as a lighting designer but revisits his home town, the fictitious Stonemouth, positioned somewhere 'north of Aberdeen', for a funeral.

A selection of headlines from stories in the news. They use English in a way that you might think is intended to confuse but it's all perfectly clear to the native speaker.