"Hugh "Shuggie" Bain spends his 1980s childhood in public housing in Glasgow, Scotland. Thatcher's war on heavy industry has put husbands and sons out of work, and the city's notorious drugs epidemic is waiting in the wings. Hismother Agnes is Shuggie's guiding light but a burden for hissiblings. Dreaming of a house with its own front door and ordering happiness on credit as her husband philanders, Agnes keeps her pride by looking good but finds solace in drink. As she swings between alcoholic binges and sobriety, Agnes's addiction has the power to eclipse everyone close toher-- especially her beloved Shuggie"--Adapted from dust jacket.
Kieron Smith, the younger of two boys, comes of age in a tough Glasgow neighborhood, finding refuge at his grandparent's house, where his uncle and grandfather teach him to fight; when he falls in with a bad crowd, he grows distant from his family.
Maureen O'Donnell travels to London to investigate the death of a young woman who visited Maureen's office at the Glasgow women's shelter two weeks earlier.
