I ran to review and give this 5 stars. I read the whole book in 5 hours and cried my way through the last 100 pages. No, sobbed, I SOBBED my heart out to the last 100 pages.

Beautiful story. Loved the characters.

Oh my gosh, Glasgow Boys broke my heart into a million pieces and then put it back together again.

Finlay is 18 and in his first year studying nursing at Glasgow University, reliant on his scholarship to (barely) cover his living expenses but not wanting to disclose his status as a care-leaver to the institution.

Banjo is 17 and starting at his umpteenth new school after moving to East Kilbride to live with new foster carers.

Their stories in the current day intertwine with their experiences three years previously in a group home, as the reader slowly learns why they no longer speak.

Glasgow Boys is a powerful, and powerfully moving, story which should be required reading for any politician making funding decisions that affect young people in care or leaving care. The tenacity required by both boys to simply survive - and their constant vulnerability should just one part of their life 'fail' - is brilliantly articulated. I loved this tender book - highly recommended.

Glasgow Boys was a touching and terrific YA debut from a bold voice that I will certainly keep listening to.

McDonald seized my heart with this gritty, raw and relatable book that just soared. Few YA contemporary books have stuck in my head quite like this one did. It is frank and often brutally honest in its depiction of the themes explored. I loved how it explored class, the care system and the bonds we forge in life. Also running through the book is an exploration of sexuality and relationships that was again characteristically honest and nuanced. It is a story of finding yourself and owning your place in the world. McDonald is not afraid to go into the gritty parts of life, but the core of the story always remains with some light and hope.

The characterisation was off the charts as well. Finlay and Banjo have come from care and some of the worst circumstances in life. They are such vulnerable young men just trying to survive and find a place in the world that will accept and love them. McDonald gives them such strong and distinctive narrative voices and you fall in love with both of them instantly. In particular, the use of dialect from McDonald adds a layer to their narration that hooks you in even further. Both are flawed and McDonald keeps them authentic in their messiness and their mistakes. However they are both deeply loving and wonderful people. Their character arcs over the course of the book are nothing short of astounding. McDonald just imbues their story with so much raw emotion, but it is ultimately one full of joy and love and hope.

Glasgow Boys was raw and riveting in its vulnerability, McDonald carves out a story ultimately of love and hope against the odds. She has certainly made a name for herself here with me.

This was an emotional and heart wrenching story. I really enjoyed it and loved the characters of Finlay and Banjo. I also loved that it was set in Glasgow and that Banjo spoke in a broad Glaswegian accent as far as the writing went. As a Scottish person who had lived in the south for many years, the title of the book was what attracted me to it.

Banjo and Finlay met in a children’s care home and gradually became really close. They formed a tight bond and understood each other. They looked out for each other until something happened that drove a huge gap between them and they never saw each other again.

Fast forward to when they were 17 and 18 and the story continues from both of their perspectives. Banjo is in sixth form at school and still struggles to form and maintain any kind of friendships or relationships. Finlay is at Glasgow university doing a nursing degree and is struggling to keep up as he has to work to afford to live and eat. He too struggles with allowing people to get close to him and keeps his personal life a secret.

Both boys have had parents abandon them in one way or another and then move through the care system carrying a huge weight on their shoulders. The story really makes you feel for them and what they have gone through in their childhood.

A great read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

3.5 stars

I actually really enjoyed this. It’s a simple, no frills story but still quite impactful and has its own charm. I enjoyed both Finlay and Banjo as characters. I would say sometimes their perspectives did blend together and weren’t as distinct as I normally prefer, but at no point did I wish I was in the other’s perspective which is a great win for a dual-perspective story. At some stages I did feel like the story was being driven a lot by the romantic relationships (especially Banjo’s) but they each came to value other forms of love and belonging as well (friendships, familial ties). I also do think it would have been nice to have them talk a bit more with each other about their past and that big event that led to them going separate ways, since it did impact them a lot and was built up in each other’s perspectives.

Well I just found my favourite book of the year so far!

Glasgow boys is a touching story about friendship, love and family. Banjo and Finlay are two incredibly crafted characters that will worm their way into your heart and squeeze. I cried a lot of tears in the last half, some happy and some sad. I finished the book feeling full of hope and love. It's a story I'll remember fondly for a long time.

I definitely recommend this one for fans of books like Shuggie Bain and Boys Don't Cry.

'Glasgow Boys' paints a complex picture of male adolescents - its highs, lows, and everything in between. I enjoyed the nods to the two main protagonists's earlier childhood together as well as their current lives spent apart. I thought the novel touched on darker topics such as the realities of being in care/a care leaver with nuance and heart, with plenty of lighter comic relief too. These characters didn't just live within the book, but within me, too, when I was reading it. I thought it set the tone perfectly for young adults but was also very much enjoyed by this not-so-young adult. Really recommend.

“Finley’s powerless to do anything but laugh so hard, for so long, it feels as though he’s setting something free.”

Wow, I fell in love with Glasgow Boys as soon as I started reading it. McDonald does a really great job of writing such honest, funny, and moving characters. I fell in love with our two protagonists from the start, I did also want to wrap them up and make sure they were safe and loved and looked after forever.

This was a great, quick paced read. I loved the dual perspectives, the flashbacks – both were great devices and aided the story super well. I laughed and cried through this book, especially towards the end. Banjo and Findley were excellent, their stories gut wrenching, raw, beautiful, and moving.

An absolute must-read. I can’t get my head around this being a debut. Margaret McDonald, take a bow!

Glasgow Boys follows two boys as they reach the crucial stage between childhood and adulthood. 18-year-old Finlay is starting a nursing degree at Glasgow University, while 17-year-old Banjo is in his final year of school. If you don’t instantly fall in love with both of these boys then you might need to check your heart is in working order. Although very different, both boys have a fractured past with negligent parents, spending their formative years in foster care and group homes. Finlay’s trauma translates into isolation, while Banjo’s becomes a living, breathing, rage-filled beast. At one time they balanced each other out and started to feel that there was hope in human connection, but single moment changes everything and when we meet them, the boys are no longer in each other’s lives.

What I love so much about this book, aside from the impeccable writing, is the intimacy McDonald allows us to build with her two main characters, making us care deeply for them and their futures. It is a book that delves deep into trauma and doesn’t shy away from the events that caused Finlay and Banjo’s pain, yet is at the same time filled to bursting with joy and hope. It challenges toxic masculinity head-on and places LGBTQ+ characters front and center without too much fanfare, which is the best way to normalize queerness.

Although definitely suitable and accessible to mature teen readers, this new adult novel is reminiscent to me of Young Mungo and Demon Copperhead, two of my favourite reads of recent years. What these three novels have in common, and what I think we need more of in popular fiction, is that they revolve around male characters whose vulnerability and tenderness is what leads endears them to the reader and turns them into the heroes of their own stories.

I finished this book last night and my head is still full of the characters. Talk about all the feels. I am also really sad to have had to leave the characters behind as I got a wee bit emotionally involved with them and their lives. I read the last few pages behind tear filled eyes...
So... Finlay and Banjo knew each other when they shared a room in a group care home when they were 15 and 14. Both from very different backgrounds and both pretty broken, they eventually formed a close bond. A bond that was broken irreparably by something bad that happened.
Fast forward 3 years and Finlay, now 18, has just started a Nursing degree at Glasgow Uni. He has come straight from care so had no one and nothing and, mainly due to the incident of three years ago, still has issue around people and trust. Banjo is now 17 and has just moved into a new foster home and, joy of joys, is starting a new school. But his issues from the past are also still unresolved and, well, mainly spill out of him as anger, often with violent repercussions.
Told in the present, as dual narrative, we follow them as Finlay tries to navigate uni, work, placement, and assignments, and Banjo similarly with schoolwork, running, work, and foster parents, both also navigating the choppy waters of first love, with flashbacks from the past, the author weaves a very emotional tale which held me hostage for the duration, reading way past my bedtime to finish it.
The story in the past starts with the two boys meeting and how their friendship developed. Told chronologically, it is drip fed into the present day narrative at exactly the right moments to both complement and progress the present day story being told. Parts of it were harrowing, and I do admit to sobbing at certain places. But then there's also some really great uplifting scenes and, also, some rather funny moments, which kept the book from getting too dark.
I took to both the boys right from the off. Yes I wanted to mother them, to hold them, to say it will all be OK. I felt so much for them, but also pride as they were both trying to do the best with what they had. I was also intrigued as to what could possibly have happened in the past to have affected them so much. But I'm not going to expand on that any further. Suffice to say, the fallout was still affecting them three years later so...
I initially had mixed opinions on the ending though. Not how it ended, more when it ended. I originally thought that I would have loved to have seen what happened beyond where the author stopped. But then again, having thought about it some more, I think it ended at exactly the right time. Any more would have possibly undone all the emotion that had gone before and made it all a bit twee. Suffice to say though, I was very sad when I finished the book and thought of all the characters I had to say goodbye to. Not just Finlay and Banjo, but their families and friends too. Every single character was perfect, so easy to connect to, both good and bad and all things in between. But I know that this will be a book I will go back to and re-read in the future. It takes a special book to make me say that, and this is definitely a special book. And... blow me down - It's only a blooming debut book. That has knocked me for six... And also made me very very excited to see what the author serves up for next time.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

What a hugely emotional and beautiful book. It’s redundant to say this is “like Shuggie Bain”, and also unfair - it is wholly its own book, with wonderful characters in Banjo and Finlay!

Both battling demons, both angry and without anywhere to place that anger except out into the world.

This is raw and yet fluid storytelling, I couldn’t stop reading even though it was making me ache. I couldn’t put it down, read it over one weekend and was rooting for a happy ending.

Really can’t believe this is a debut, and how beautifully the themes of masculinity and trauma are explored through these characters.

What a beautiful book. It’s not always an easy read but it’s impossible not to root for the two main characters. Finlay and Banjo are very different people with one major thing in common – both have been raised in the care system in Glasgow. Finlay has managed to gain a place on a nursing course at Glasgow University while Banjo has begun working in a small café while finishing school and living with new foster parents. Finlay is reserved, nervous and shies away from people and life while Banjo comes out swinging against adversity. We know, through flashbacks, that they have a connection in their past life in a care home but it’s not until close to the end that we find out what happened to divide them and how that has affected them both.

It's a beautifully told story. Both of the main characters are sometimes sympathetic and sometimes frustrating but it always makes sense why they do what they do. Their painful pasts and lack of faith in themselves and their future is very moving and makes sense of their behaviour in the present so it’s heartwarming to see them find support and gain in confidence. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and Faber and Faber for the advance copy in return for an honest review.

Oh, how I loved this book. It emotionally gutted me - but in the best possible way. It follows two Scottish teenagers, Banjo and Finlay. Both have been in the care system. Banjo is in his last year of school and just arrived at a new family placement. Finlay has aged out of the system and is starting a nursing course at university. As the novel progresses we see that both young men have present day struggles to overcome - Finlay with self-worth, Banjo with violence. We slowly learn more about their respective pasts, how they came to be in the system, how they had once been close and how that relationship imploded.

Both Banjo and Finlay are beautifully drawn, characters who I know will stay with me for a long, long time. My heart hurt when I learned what they’d each endured and as I saw them struggle to overcome their present day issues. Conversely it soared and sang as they made concrete steps to overcome some of their demons, as they realised they had people in their lives who would love and support them, and, most importantly, as they started to trust these people and themselves. The ending was just beautiful.

One of their things that really struck me about this novel was its take on the foster system. It’s focus was not so much on criticising the system (although it did make pertinent points about the problems with teens aging out at 18 and having to navigate life with little to no support) nor in highlighting abusive caregivers. Rather it’s on the fact that the system is needed in the first place, the losses that the boys suffered (the details are not unduly dwelt on), and the fact that no system would be able to fully heal those losses. I know there are abusive carers but it was refreshing to see the carers in the group home and Banjo’s new family be kind and supportive, handling some challenging situations as well as I think was possible.

This was a gorgeously written coming of age story, a tender exploration of male friendship, which also focuses on mental health, sexual identity, class, masculinity, community, love and forgiveness. A stunning debut and most definitely an author to keep an eye on.

If you want a novel that’ll make you feel deeply while also leaving you with plenty to think about - How can we improve the foster system so it better meets the needs of children and young people who have no choice but to rely on it? How can we help young men deal with emotional pain so they don’t damage themselves or others? - be sure to pick up Glasgow Boys when it releases on 2 May. Many thanks to @NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with this eArc.

This is a wonderful book.
Margaret McDonald has written a story for young adults that has such heart, and warmth and wit and understanding, that, as a librarian , I want to thrust it into the hands of young adults and tell them to read it and find themselves in it in many ways, and know that they are not alone in their feelings, their awkwardness and their apprehensions about life.
Finlay and Banjo, both boys from in care backgrounds, leap from the page and wrap themselves round your geart as their coming of age stories unfurl.
There is so much humour and pathos in Margaret McDonald's writing, and the boys' lives are so well portrayed that, sitting in Glasgow while I was reading it, I half expected to see either boy go by me out in the streets or be sitting in the cafes studying, or with his friends, as I walked past.
Young love is so beautifully captured in both boys' cases, the frightening fragile intensity of those initial feelings vividly invoked.
Perhaps the ending is too picture perfect for some, but I was rooting for those boys so much, that anything less than the happiness they finally both receive would have broken my heart a little.
Don't get me wrong, there is a good dose of harsh reality in these pages, this is Glasgow after all, in all it's colours and moods, and some of them arent pretty, but overall, this book leaves you with the life affirming knowledge that there is more good in the world than bad, and more kindness and concern for others than callous indifference, more enveloping family love than cold and cruel parenting, and more chance of living a full and happy life if you just give yourself a chance to step out into it and risk all that that might mean.
Thank you indeed to NetGalley and Faber and Faber for an earc of this title which was a joy to read, and an easy book honestly to review favourably.

this book was every bit as lovely as i expected it to be, if not more. it’s like <i>shuggie bain</i>‘s impossibly hopeful younger sibling; it tackles several heavy topics with such grace and kindness that i found myself both tearing up and smiling through several parts of it. the novel just oozes care and compassion for its two main characters and the bond they share, and it was lovely to follow them on their journey, as well as getting to see them form meaningful bonds with other people. i loved loved loved the way it addressed nursing and the dedication that goes into it, as well as foster parenting and the care system in general; again, i feel as though it tackled it all with such grace and understanding that finlay & banjo’s bond felt all the more real in the end. i really really adored this one. <3

Such a moving story about two boys who grew up in care starting their journey of healing, both of themselves and their lost friendship.

You just couldn’t help but feel so much empathy for both Banjo and Finlay. The whole way through you’re just rooting so hard for them to recognise their worth and stop beating themselves up.

There’s a lot of sad moments, the book really shows how a tumultuous upbringing can completely shatter you’re self-esteem and make it hard to trust anyone. However, ultimately, it’s such a heartwarming book. Seeing both boys create new friendships and open themselves up to love was beautiful.

Whilst I would have maybe liked a bit more of Banjo and Finlay spending time together, their reunion and honest conversations with each other towards the end were incredibly heartwarming.

I think a lot of young people will get so much from reading this book…and probably a lot of adults will too!!

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Finlay and Banjo, 18 and 17 respectively, have grown up in foster care in Scotland. Once as close as two people could be, there’s now a massive rift separating them stemming from an incident three years prior. As they both attempt to navigate the twists and turns in their daily lives, Banjo as he settles in with his final foster family, starts a job and a new school, gets a girlfriend, and Finlay as he begins his nursing degree, makes new friends, and tries his absolute hardest not to fall in love, their fallout weighs heavy on both of them and the lasting effects in their personal lives are impossible to shake. Glasgow Boys is a gorgeous exploration of their journeys into young adulthood as they stumble back into each other’s lives and finally grapple with the cause of their dramatic split. This is a book about forgiveness, and found family, and finding love in all its forms when you least expect it and feel you least deserve it and I loved every second of it.

This is the story of two kids whose lives have been intertwined, their friendship and how they manage to enjoy life again. I would lie if I said I didn’t cry, I did.

The story of Banjo and Finlay is sad cause it’s real, I feel like a lot of kids might be going through what they went through, but this specific story is also wholesome in a way that makes you wanna give a hug to every person in your life.

The plot itself is well developed, two povs and two timelines, everything is well fitted and the storylines work perfectly; the writing is also very good and the Scottish dialect and accent plays a very nice role in the dialogues showing especially Banjo’s way of speaking, at the same time it’s not too hard to understand, so well done.

Not gonna spoiler the ending, just wanna say that it’s slightly different from what I was expecting but I really liked how things are complementary and the author managed to make everything work out for the characters and storyline even if it’s a different way than the one I was originally expecting or hoping for.

I’d recommend.

ps. Trigger Warnings should be underlined, I can mention a few such as Suicide, self harm, hate and violence.

I really enjoyed this and it felt that it was believable in terms of the age of the characters and very true to life in the care system. Well paced and descriptive

Book of the year so far! I think I need to read it again... I spent so much of it reading through tears I may have missed bits. The characters were so well drawn (not just the mains but supporting characters too) and I physically ached for Banjo and Finlay at times. An arresting, powerful and uplifting debut that I am already telling everyone I know about!