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  • From Scenes Like These by Gordon M. Williams book cover
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From Scenes Like These

by Gordon M. Williams

Two young lives in 1950s west Scotland

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Awards & Recognition

  • Award recognition

    Shortlisted for the first ever Booker Prize

    Shortlisted for the first ever Booker Prize.

AlbakiReads Editorial

Two young lives in 1950s west Scotland

Set amid new housing and factory growth in the west of Scotland, the novel brings together Dunky Logan, a teenage school-leaver from working-class Kilcaddie, and Mary O’Donnell, a pregnant Irish Catholic who arrives at a local farmhouse as a maid. Their ambitions place them in sharply different circumstances: Dunky seeks the status of a “hard case,” while Mary has a plan to improve her position. Violence, betrayal and alcohol draw Dunky into a destructive cycle, as Mary becomes caught up in a family feud. The introduction is by James Robertson.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in working-class life in 1950s Scotland.
  • Readers seeking fiction about young people navigating social constraints and ambition.
  • Readers interested in family conflict and the effects of violence and alcohol.

Themes

Working-class lifeAmbition and social mobilityViolence and betrayalFamily feud1950s Scotland

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

Shortlisted for the first ever Booker Prize

'A masterpiece' - Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain

'An extraordinary novel' - Michael Magee, author of Close to Home

'It deserves its modern classic status' - The Times

It's the west of Scotland in the 1950s. New houses are going up. Factories are opening.

But Dunky Logan, a 15-year-old brought up in a tenement flat in working-class Kilcaddie, is ditching school to be a labourer on a local farm. Dead set on becoming a hard case, he wants to work shoulder to shoulder with so-called real men.

Irish Catholic Mary O'Donnell arrives at the farmhouse as the new maid. She is pregnant - no boyfriend in sight. But she's smart, and she has a plan to get herself up in the world.

As Dunky is swallowed up by a vicious cycle of violence, betrayal, and booze, Mary becomes entangled in a savage family feud.

Now there's no going back, not for either of them.

With an introduction by James Robertson.

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