''The Quarry'' is

Iain Banks Iain Banks (16 February 1954 – 9 June 2013) was a Scottish author, writing mainstream fiction as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, adding the initial of his adopted middle name Menzies (). After the success of ''The Wasp Factor ...

's final

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

, which was published posthumously in late June 2013. It deals with an

autistic The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

youth, Kit, and his father, Guy, a

misanthrope Misanthropy is the general hatred, dislike, distrust or contempt of the human species, human behavior or human nature. A misanthrope or misanthropist is someone who holds such views or feelings. The word's origin is from the Greek words μῖσ� ...

who is dying of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. The author, who died on 9 June 2013, was in the advanced phases of terminal

gall bladder cancer Gallbladder cancer is a relatively uncommon cancer, with an incidence of fewer than 2 cases per 100,000 people per year in the United States. It is particularly common in central and South America, central and eastern Europe, Japan and northern Ind ...

at the time the book was being prepared for publication, although he did not know he had cancer until the book was almost finished. He then began to include his own experiences of the disease in the novel. The dates of publication of ''The Quarry'' were brought forward at Banks's request, and were 20 June 2013 in the UK and 25 June 2013 in the US. ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...

'' reviewer Hannah McGill, reflecting on Banks's condition at the time of writing, called it "a state-of-the-self book, a meaning-of-life book".

References

2013 British novels British satirical novels Existentialist novels Little, Brown and Company books Novels by Iain Banks Novels published posthumously British philosophical novels Scottish novels {{2010s-satirical-novel-stub