Contemporary Reads: The Wasp Factory

The Wasp Factory (1984) was the controversial debut of Scottish writer Iain Banks. It is the story of sixteen-year-old Frank who lives on a Scottish island with his father, a retired scientist. His brother, Eric, has just escaped from a mental institution and is on the loose. Frank himself is a very unstable character, to say the least. He has killed three children and several animals.

At the end of the book Frank discovers that he is not a man. His father had told him that a dog had bitten off his penis when he was younger, but in truth, Frank is in fact female. His father had been using male hormones to disguise this as part of a sick experiment.

With graphic violence and a disturbing plot this novel received mixed reviews when it was first published in the UK. It has since been hailed as one of the must reads of the 1980s.