Step into an infinite world of stories
Fiction
SHORTLISTED FOR THE FIRST EVER BOOKER PRIZE
'A masterpiece . . . demands to be read' - Douglas Stuart, author of SHUGGIE BAIN
'An extraordinary novel' - Michael Magee, author of CLOSE TO HOME
It’s the west of Scotland in the 1950s. New houses are going up. Factories are opening.
But Dunky Logan, a 15-year-old brought up in a tenement flat in working-class Kilcaddie, is ditching school to be a labourer on a local farm. Dead set on becoming a hard case, he wants to work shoulder to shoulder with so-called real men.
Irish Catholic Mary O’Donnell arrives at the farmhouse as the new maid. She is pregnant - no boyfriend in sight. But she’s smart, and she has a plan to get herself up in the world.
As Dunky is swallowed up by a vicious cycle of violence, betrayal, and booze, Mary becomes entangled in a savage family feud.
Now there’s no going back, not for either of them.
With an introduction by James Robertson
© 2025 Picador (Audiobook): 9781035073580
Release date
Audiobook: May 29, 2025
Listen and read without limits
800 000+ stories in 40 languages
Kids Mode (child-safe environment)
Cancel anytime
Listen and read as much as you want
1 account
Unlimited Access
Offline Mode
Kids Mode
Cancel anytime
English
International