Books I've Loved: Glasgow Boys

 

I picked this book up at the library without really looking at what it was about, partly because I enjoyed Young Mungo and partly because the cover said something to me.  And boy am I glad I did!  This book could have been written for me.

It's about two boys in the foster system in Glasgow.  Finlay is 18 now, and out of care.  He's just starting a nursing degree at university and is struggling to balance coursework, a placement and the job he needs to keep himself fed.  He's always been shy and finds connecting with people both difficult and terrifying, yet he needs a support network in this new environment.  He's just not sure he can have it.  Not with Akash, the handsome medical student he hasn't seen since primary school, or with the two girls who seem determined to make him part of their group.

Banjo is a year younger and still at high school.  He's just been placed with a new family and has started a new school.  He wants desperately to stay here until he ages out, but is so filled with hurt and anger, he finds it difficult to contain and keeps getting himself into trouble. He meets an enticing girl at his new job and is quickly brought into her warm circle of family and friends, but even this isn't enough to keep him from seeking out violence to calm the rage blazing inside him.

Three years earlier, Banjo and Finlay were roommates at a care home and developed a bond that still ties them together, even though they haven't spoken in three years and both think their relationship has been damaged beyond repair.  

If these two boys are going to be able to move on, to love new people, they need to forgive each other and themselves.

Set against the grim background of Glasgow's working class, this book talked to my heart.  Both Finlay and Banjo are the kind of beautiful, broken boy I love to read about and, indeed, to write.  They have huge hearts, but have been so beaten up by life, it's hard for them to let them show.  There are definitely some massive parallels between this book and A Stranger to Kindness.  I understood these kids in a deep and powerful way.

It's a story about love and connection on so many levels.  Not a romance (but there are elements of that in there) it's really what I would call a true love story, a story examining all the different kinds of love that exist in the world.  And the power all those different loves haave to heal even the deepest of wounds.

So, I strongly recommend this one.  It's heartbreaking in all the best ways and will likely bring a tear to your eye more than once.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

A striking debut exploring the power of identity, community and the Scottish working class. This coming-of-age story is an incisive look at young masculinity and the way even the most fraught childhood is not without hope.

Neither Finlay or Banjo can remember the last time they had a hug.

Against all odds, 18-year-old Finlay has begun his nursing degree at Glasgow University. But coming straight from the care system means he has no support network. How can he write essays, focus on his nursing placement and stop himself from falling in love when he's struggling to feed himself? Meanwhile, 17-year-old Banjo is trying to settle into his new foster family and finish high school, desperate to hold down his job and the people it contains. But his anger and fear keep boiling over, threatening his already uncertain future.

Underpinning everything is what happened three years ago in their group care home, when Finlay and Banjo were as close as brothers until they stopped speaking. If these boys want to keep hold of the people they love, they have to be able to forgive one another. More than this, they must find a way to forgive themselves.