Glasgow Boys – Winner of the Carnegie Medal for Writing

Our summary description

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

Finlay and Banjo move through Glasgow carrying histories that have taught them not to expect softness. Finlay is at university, training to be a nurse while quietly managing hunger, deadlines, and the absence of anyone to fall back on. Care taught him self reliance, not how to ask for help, and the pressure to survive threatens to crowd out everything else, including the feelings he is trying hard not to name.

Banjo is still at school, newly placed with a foster family and struggling to contain the anger that flares when memory takes hold. He knows how quickly stability can vanish, and how easily one mistake can undo it all. The bond he clings to feels fragile, even as it keeps him going.

Glasgow Boys is a tender, clear eyed novel about young men shaped by systems that failed them, and the quiet courage it takes to imagine a future beyond survival. Set in a city that offers both anonymity and connection, it asks what healing looks like when trust has to be learned from scratch.