I’ve recently enjoyed a few books set in fairly recent history in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Best examples being Close to Home by Michael Magee (I’ve actually not quite finished it yet) and Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart (Shuggie Bain is on the pile).
I like the gritty realism and don’t mind if it’s bleak. I also like that they are very place-specific (Belfast and Glasgow for the above books) and feel almost like an oral history of being in a time and place. Preferably set in the 80s or later.
Any recommendations of books set in working class UK/Ireland? Welsh and English ones to complete the set would be nice.
by AnotherOmnishambles
2 Comments
Irvine Welsh’s *Skagboys*. The prequel to *Trainspotting* (but I actually think *Skagboys* is the better book).
For a bleak, place-specific one which deals with class what about Penance by Eliza Clark? It’s a fiction but told as if it’s true crime, about teenage girls living in a Northern English seaside town.