Irvine Welsh His first novel, "Trainspotting", was published in 1993. Set in the mid-1980s, it uses a series of loosely connected short stories to tell the story of a group of characters tied together by decaying friendships, heroin addiction and stabs at escape from the oppressive boredom and brutality of their lives in the housing schemes. It was released to shock and outrage in some circles and great acclaim in others; "Time Out" called it "funny, unflinchingly abrasive, authentic and inventive", and "The Sunday Times" called Welsh "the best thing that has happened to British writing for decades". It was adapted as
Middlesex (novel) made the best-selling fiction list and kept its position for five weeks. In June 2007, the novel ranked seventh on "USA Today"s Best-Selling Books list. In the same month, after Eugenides appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to discuss the novel, "Middlesex" placed second on "The New York Times" best-selling paperback fiction list. The Pulitzer award nearly propelled "Middlesex" to "The New York Times" Best Seller list, which in 2003 published only the top 15 bestsellers; in the week after "Middlesex" was announced the winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the novel placed 17th on the "expanded list". In 2007, 1.3