Home › Literary Fiction › How Late It Was, How Late
Literary Fiction · DarkSammy wakes after a two-day drinking binge in Glasgow, beaten and suddenly blind
How Late It Was, How Late
by James Kelman
1994384 pagesDemanding readFast pace
★ Booker Prize, 1994
A blind man tries to get by in Glasgow
Sammy wakes up in a Glasgow lane after a two-day drinking binge and discovers he can't see. As he tries to find out what happened to him, he has to deal with the police and with the welfare system. The novel is written in Glasgow speech and won the 1994 Booker Prize.
More about this book
Who
Sammy, a Glaswegian ex-convict.
World
Glasgow, in the 1980s.
What makes it different
It is told in a stream of Glasgow speech, and Kelman was the first Scottish winner.
Feel
Raw and relentless.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- How Late It Was, How LateWikipedia