Ian Rankin relaunches the novel he once hoped to bury
It is an unusual promotional gambit before a book launch. Ian Rankin has revealed that he once disowned his novel, Westwind, and hoped it would “never … see the light of day again”.
When he first produced the manuscript, 30 years ago, he was told to change it so many times that he started “to lose belief in my abilities” and began “doubting my future as a publishable writer”, he has said. Only 1,000 hardbacks were printed when it was first published in 1990.
“Every time my agent or editor had asked me to rework it, I had acquiesced, until it felt like it wasn’t really my book at all – certainly not the one I’d set out to write,” admits Rankin in an introduction to the new edition. “So I decided it would rest in a dark corner of my consciousness, never to see the light of day again.”
The Scottish writer, most famous for creating the Edinburgh police detective John Rebus, says his decision to revisit Westwind was prompted by praise from a fan. After re-reading his “lost” book, which tells of life in a fictional contemporary Britain, the writer decided to bring it out again with a few minor changes.
“The characters came to life, the plot was pacey, the villains were scary and the heroes believable,” he said.
Orion, the publisher, is to re-release the novel in hardback on 14 November, billed as a tale of spies, satellites and a global conspiracy of sinister surveillance that is “strikingly relevant in today’s political climate”. Rankin agrees that its concerns about the dangers of political isolationism now seem “prescient”.
The novel is set against a backdrop of rising international tensions, as American troops are being pulled out of Europe. Above, in the skies, satellites circle the Earth and are “potentially being used to spy on everyone and everything”.
