Skagboys

Welsh, Irvine

ISBN 10: 0224087908 / ISBN 13: 9780224087902

Published by Jonathan Cape, 2012

About this Item

Jonathan Cape, London 2012 / Paperback. UK Uncorrected Proof. Fine Paperback Original. Signed by the author directly to the title page.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1692031934805

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Skagboys
• Publisher: Jonathan Cape
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0224087908
• ISBN 13: 9780224087902
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Fine
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

Mark Renton has it all: he's good-looking, young, with a pretty girlfriend and a place at university. But there's no room for him in the 1980s. Thatcher's government is destroying working-class communities across Britain, and the post-war certainties of full employment, educational opportunity and a welfare state are gone. When his family starts to fracture, Mark's life swings out of control and he succumbs to the defeatism which has taken hold in Edinburgh's grimmer areas. The way out is heroin. It's no better for his friends. Spud Murphy is paid off from his job, Tommy Lawrence feels himself being sucked into a life of petty crime and violence - the worlds of the thieving Matty Connell and psychotic Franco Begbie. Only Sick Boy, the supreme manipulator of the opposite sex, seems to ride the current, scamming and hustling his way through it all. Skagboys charts their journey from likely lads to young men addicted to the heroin which has flooded their disintegrating community. This is the 1980s: a time of drugs, poverty, AIDS, violence, political strife and hatred - but a lot of laughs, and maybe just a little love; a decade which changed Britain for ever. The prequel to the world-renowned Trainspotting, this is an exhilarating and moving book, full of the scabrous humour, salty vernacular and appalling behaviour that has made Irvine Welsh a household name.

About the Author

Irvine Welsh was born and raised in Edinburgh. His first novel, Trainspotting, has sold over one million copies in the UK and was adapted into an era-defining film. He has written fourteen further novels, including the number one Sunday Times bestseller Dead Men’s Trousers, four books of shorter fiction and numerous plays and screenplays. Irvine Welsh currently lives between London, Edinburgh and Miami.