It is 1981. Glasgow is dying and good families must grift to survive.
Agnes Bain has always expected more from life. She dreams of greater
things: a house with its own front door and a life bought and paid for
outright (like her perfect, but false, teeth). But Agnes is abandoned
by her philandering husband, and soon she and her three children find
themselves trapped in a decimated mining town. As she descends deeper
into drink, the children try their best to save her, yet one by one
they must abandon her to save themselves. It is her son Shuggie who
holds out hope the longest.
Shuggie is different. Fastidious and fussy, he shares his mother’s
sense of snobbish propriety. The miners' children pick on him and
adults condemn him as no’ right. But Shuggie believes that if he
tries his hardest, he can be normal like the other boys and help his
mother escape this hopeless place.
This week's book is Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart and we'll not be meeting at The Fletcher Moss on William Street in Didsbury but will be meeting online — contact us for details.