HER debut novel is a coming-of-age story bursting with big themes, from mental health and growing up in care to pain medication addiction and working class life.
Running through all of it, says Margaret McDonald, 25-year-old author of Glasgow Boys, is her love of the city itself.
“I was born here, and moved to East Kilbride when I was three years old, but when I returned to Glasgow to study, the city was to me the hub of the world,” explains Margaret.
“It was the most glorious place, bursting with life and colour and food and art and music and people.”
She adds: “My main driving force was to depict the modern and multicultural city as I know it, the city that welcomes all with open arms and accepts anyone who wishes to use the ‘Glaswegian’ title.
“Glasgow would not be Glasgow without its tapestry of ethnic communities, religious faiths, identities, all and every walk of life.”
Glasgow Boys, published by Faber & Faber, is the story of Banjo and Finlay, two young men who grew up in care and are now trying to make their way in their own worlds of university life, high school, work and relationships.
“The themes – mental health, trauma, queerness, minimum wage jobs, the NHS, the student experience, the working class experience – are all coloured by my life in some way,” says Margaret.
“I worked for the NHS, spent a month in hospital after a bowel operation and worked every single job within this novel: a hall keeper, janitor, waiter, dishwasher, everything.”
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She adds: “The substance use disorder Banjo experiences is heavily influenced by mine too. I took dihydrocodeine for chronic pain from my aggressive Crohn’s disease, and weaned myself off with some guidance and a lot of luck.
“There is a huge spectrum of lived experiences within substance use disorder, but it would be an incredible thing if it was discussed more openly as a result of Banjo’s story.”
John Radoux, a children’s therapist who grew up in care and has worked in care homes, helped Margaret in her research.
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“John helped me to understand that the care experience is wildly individualistic and varied and there are countless ways the system has touched people’s lives,” she says.
“I openly accept anyone who finds Glasgow Boys’ depiction of care to be limited – fiction can only do so much, but then, fiction is in conversation with the world.
“My hope here is that Glasgow Boys can help to start that conversation about care, critical or otherwise.”
The book is deeply personal for Margaret, she explains.
“Truthfully, I may never have another story in me that’s so personal,” she adds.
“I hope people enjoy it, and see the beauty of a life such as theirs and mine, a life so full of joy and pride in being working class in Glasgow.”
Glasgow Boys is out now, and on July 3, Margaret will be talking about her novel in conversation with National Library of Scotland librarian Amina Shah at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow.
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