In view of the political turmoil that has roiled Scotland in recent decades, its ongoing identity crisis and its democratic restlessness, there has been a puzzling absence of “state of the nation” literary fiction. The novelist Richard T Kelly may be no Scot – he grew up in Northern Ireland and lives in London – but he is about to help redress that.
The Black Eden, which will be published by Faber in early July, explores the tumultuous effect that the discovery of North Sea oil and gas in the late 1960s and 1970s had on Scotland’s communities, economy and politics. The find brought with it a rush of capitalist modernity, of the kind that would later be triggered by the Thatcher government and lead to a profound breach between the Conservatives and voters north of the border. There were well-paid but punishing jobs on the rigs, and extraordinary rewards for financiers and oil companies as sleepy coastal towns and villages, with traditional ways stretching back centuries, suddenly found themselves centres of frenzied development. There was a debate over ownership, too: the SNP adopted the slogan “It’s Scotland’s Oil” and began to accumulate votes and credibility.
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