'Ultimately, this is a book about how everyone has a story worth telling, and one worth hearing too. Terrific stuff' * Independent * 'MacNeil shows himself hugely adept at creating a series of distinctive literary voices, and skilfully weaves these various set-pieces into the main narrative before finally poleaxing the reader with a completely unexpected tragicomic final act . . . a wise warm-hearted meditation on the human condition' * Scotsman * 'Reading The Brilliant & Forever, I felt I was in possession of something really special, far bigger than the sum of its words... It is truly original & memorable, heartbreaking & funny, a bit like life itself...' -- Vivian Bannerman, Main Street Trading Company 'Full of wry detail and satirical flourish, a demonstration of virtuoso storytelling. MacNeil atomises the process of othering by which communities define themselves. All of that makes it sound overly serious, which it isn't: MacNeil's prose style keeps things light, lyrical, and funny' * The Skinny * 'Lyrical, satirical, funny and utterly, utterly heartbreaking' * Heat Magazine * 'It is a joy to read such an engaging, luminous novel' * The Guardian *