Maggie & Me - Coming Out and Coming of Age in 1980s Scotland

Damian Barr

Summary

It's 12 October 1984. An IRA bomb blows apart the Grand Hotel in  Brighton. Miraculously, Margaret Thatcher survives. In small-town Scotland,  eight-year-old Damian Barr watches in horror as his mum rips her wedding  ring off and packs their bags. He knows he, too, must survive. 
 
Damian, his sister and his Catholic mum move in with her sinister new  boyfriend while his Protestant dad shacks up with the glamorous Mary the  Canary. Divided by sectarian suspicion, the community is held together  by the sprawling Ravenscraig Steelworks. But darkness threatens as  Maggie takes hold: she snatches school milk, smashes the unions and  makes greed good. Following Maggie's advice, Damian works hard and plans  his escape. He discovers that stories can save your life and - in spite  of violence, strikes, AIDS and Clause 28 - manages to fall in love  dancing to Madonna in Glasgow's only gay club.  
 
Maggie & Me is  a touching and darkly witty memoir about surviving Thatcher's Britain; a  story of growing up gay in a straight world and coming out the other  side in spite of, and maybe because of, the iron lady.

Available since: 04/08/2015.

Print length: 256 pages.

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