The Dear Green Place – and Fur Sadie

Our summary description

As Independent Scottish booksellers, we write all of our descriptions personally, we hope you enjoy this one.

First published in the 1960s, The Dear Green Place is set in post war Glasgow and follows Mat Craig, a young working class man determined to become a writer. His ambition sets him at odds with family expectations, financial reality and a city that offers little space for artistic freedom.

Mat’s struggle is both personal and political. As he tries to define himself as an artist, he collides with rigid ideas of masculinity, class loyalty and responsibility. Glasgow itself is ever present, rendered with precision and intimacy, from its streets and tenements to the pressures shaping everyday life.

Regarded as a landmark of twentieth century Scottish fiction, The Dear Green Place remains urgent and recognisable decades after its first publication. This edition includes an introduction by Alasdair Gray, alongside Archie Hind’s unfinished novel Fur Sadie and his essay Men of the Clyde, offering further insight into one of Scotland’s most uncompromising literary voices.