Mike Stevenson

This is a truly extraordinary work of literature and could become one of the most emblematic portrayals of life in poverty. Set in Glasgow in the 1980s it charts through lived experience the extraordinary resilience, humour, anger and breakability of even the most hardened human spirit. I lived in Glasgow at the time and remember the enormous impact on the city when its proud industries were cut from its heart. It left generations bereft, belittled and bewildered. This story is beautifully woven between the hard and the vulnerable side of Glasgow's people. A brilliant piece of work, written with an exquisite touch which alternatively has you laughing at the Glasgow dialogue (unique to this city) and tearful with sorrow and despair at the indignity poverty bestows on people. It is perhaps a lesson of our time.