By Lauren Hunter (she/her)

People make Glasgow. But those people are complex, tender, ready for a square-go yet yearning to be loved, making mistakes whilst coming of age, and grappling with the past. It’s this emotional current which makes Margaret McDonald’s portrait of the city in her debut novel, Glasgow Boys, so visceral but also deeply human.

Finlay is an 18-year-old struggling to adapt to his new life as a first-year student nurse at Glasgow Uni, while Banjo is 17 and fighting to make it through his final year of high school. Both are care-experienced; a series of events in which their lives connect and diverge expose each of their respective traumas and vulnerabilities, as they must learn to enter new chapters without reconciling with their pasts.

It’s clear that for McDonald, a Strathclyde English alumnus, the boys’ story – although not exclusively based on her life – is heavily influenced by elements of her experience of the Glaswegian working classes. Whether it’s mental health, substance use, queerness, or physical illness, the novel is laced with various aspects of Glasgow student life that are simultaneously very personal to the author while equally familiar to the reader. This is undoubtedly one of its greatest strengths; even though at times the subject matter is dark, there’s just something in the narrative which exudes comfort. It makes turning the pages so easy.

There are certain moments which run the risk of coming across more American high school than Glasgow city – some of the side characters in particular can feel a little one-note and arguably cheesy. In this sense, there’s sometimes a bit of heavy lifting to do in order for the novel to return to the heart its title owes itself to, but when it does, it’s simply brilliant.

Finlay and Banjo are such intricate and nuanced depictions of young men who have been marred by multiple traumas. The inclusion of their care experience as a central aspect of the narrative is definitely insightful – ultimately it’s up to those who have been through the care system first-hand to decide how accurate this portrayal is, but it’s certainly a starting point from which more in-depth conversations can blossom.

Margaret McDonald has crashed on to the Scottish contemporary fiction scene with an absolute bang. Glasgow Boys is tender and heartbreaking, but also wholesome and joyful and tinged with so much hope. It’s a novel that envelops you for the length of time you hold it in your hands and leaves you pining for more afterwards. Yes, these characters are fictional, but there’s something that feels so real at their heart. These boys are our friends, old school acquaintances, the ones that strike you walking down the street. Bright and beautiful boys, underdog boys, enigmatic boys. They are Glasgow boys.

Glasgow Boys by Margaret McDonald was published by Faber on 2nd May 2024.