Longhand is a hilarious venture into alternate mythology. To be its protagonist, Andy Hamilton has created Malcolm George Galbraith. Half a dozen pages into the book, I felt as if I’d known this large, clumsy Scotsman all my life, and in a way, I have. Malcolm’s explanation of why he writes in longhand is revealing. ‘I smashed up my laptop. I pounded it into wee tiny bits then threw the pieces into the river.’ Our hero has lived a long, tumultuous life, and his adventures are celebrated in popular culture, but when we encounter him, he is facing the loss of everything he holds dear.