An Angela’s Ashes of Scotland.
The first novel from the bestselling author of Finding Peggy tells the story of Clydebank through its destruction during the Blitz and postwar decline.
Life for the folk who lived in Clydebank’s great tenements, known fondly as the Holy City, could be hard. But it could also be full of fun, largely because everything was shared. Here were real families, pulling together and laughing at their troubles and fighting to be a community. And then in March 1941 a rain of fire descended on them as the Nazis tried to snuff the Bankies’ spirit out; but this was a spirit not so easily extinguished...
Grit, passion and authenticity: real passions, real lives.
Warm, witty and wise: a wonderful story of triumph over adversity.
The Holy City is a tale of the extraordinary heroism and humour of ordinary men and women who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances but just get on as best they can with making the most of life.
Its wonderful characters leap off the page at you; they will make you smile, make you sad and make your spirits soar, and, given the chance, they will take up permanent lodgings in your heart.
Recognizable settings: Singer’s, John Brown’s shipyards, the tenements.
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‘A novel of exceptional warmth and optimism’
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‘An enchanting tale of a remarkable woman from Clydebank... sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes hilarious but always mesmerising.’
Scotsman
‘A hugely absorbing story... Henderson brings the horror and pain of these wartime experiences vividly to life... with vigorous humour, common-sense wisdom and vitality.’
Observer
“One minute she had been in a makeshift bed in the tenement and the next she was unable to move in the black silence.”
Life for the folk who lived in Clydebank’s great tenements, known fondly as the Holy City, could be hard. But it could also be full of fun, largely because everything was shared. Here were real families, pulling together and laughing at their troubles and fighting to be a community. And then in March 1941 a rain of fire descended on them as the Nazis tried to snuff the Bankies’ spirit out; but this was a spirit not so easily extinguished ...
Marion Katie Macleod, a bairn as bright as a button, takes it all in: her mischievous riveter father joshing with her hard working mother; her beautiful elder sister Frances and her many admirers; her feisty, rabble rousing Gran; her brothers with their dreams of escape and their antics as apprentices in the shipyards; even sour, spinsterish auld Aunt Maggie. And Marion records snapshots of the moments that matter, when time slows to mark a change. These snapshot memories come back to her ever after – after the war, after all the heroes have come home, or failed to, after the sound and the fury and the laughter all subside. And these memories drive her on, as, against all the odds, she raises first one boy then another safe to manhood, giving up so much for herself on the way. She keeps looking back in order to move forward briskly; others, like her husband, find themselves mesmerised by the past. But, tomorrow, tomorrow, as her father always told her, is the day when you might find the Golden Rivet. For dreams never die in the Holy City.
'The Holy City' is a tale of the extraordinary heroism and humour of ordinary men and women who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances but just get on as best they can with making the most of life. Its wonderful characters leap off the page at you; they will make you smile, make you sad and make your spirits soar, and, given the chance, they will take up permanent lodgings in your heart.
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