A unique, tender and witty memoir of surviving the tough streets of small town Scotland during the Margaret Thatcher years

A unique, tender and witty memoir of surviving the tough streets of small town Scotland during the Margaret Thatcher years ________________________ 'Shocking and funny in equal measure, and will have you weeping with laughter and sorrow' Independent on Sunday 'A work of stealthy genius' Maggie O'Farrell 'Certain memoirs catch a moment and seem to define it, bottle it ... hugely entertaining' Sunday Times It's 12 October 1984. An IRA bomb blows apart the Grand Hotel in Brighton. Miraculously, Margaret Thatcher survives. In small-town Scotland, eight-year-old Damian Barr watches in horror as his mum rips her wedding ring off and packs their bags. He knows he, too, must survive. Damian, his sister and his Catholic mum move in with her sinister new boyfriend while his Protestant dad shacks up with the glamorous Mary the Canary. Divided by sectarian suspicion, the community is held together by the sprawling Ravenscraig Steelworks. But darkness threatens as Maggie takes hold: she snatches school milk, smashes the unions and makes greed good. Following Maggie's advice, Damian works hard and plans his escape. He discovers that stories can save your life and - in spite of violence, strikes, AIDS and Clause 28 - manages to fall in love dancing to Madonna in Glasgow's only gay club. Maggie & Me is a touching and darkly witty memoir about surviving Thatcher's Britain; a story of growing up gay in a straight world and coming out the other side in spite of, and maybe because of, the iron lady. Damian Barr's critically acclaimed debut novel, YOU WILL BE SAFE HERE, also available now.

"Shocking and funny in equal measure, and will have you weeping with laughter and sorrow" - Independent on Sunday

"A marvellous memoir – wrenching, funny and wise. I loved it!" - Joanne Harris

"This amazing book tells the story of an appalling childhood with truth and clarity unsmudged by self-pity. It grips from beginning to end and leaves the reader elated at the fact that such experiences can be overcome and produce a man who can write a book so vivid, so unsentimentally forgiving, and so memorable" - Diana Athill

"This book will break your heart and make you angry; then it will lift your heart and make you glad; because Damian Barr has transmuted a grim childhood into a work of art and brought forth beauty from ashes" - Richard Holloway

"That Damian Barr survived his childhood is testament to his startling courage and determination.That he was then able to write about the experience with such wit, verve and candour is equally astonishing. Maggie & Me is a cause for celebration on all kinds of levels. Rejoice!" - Rupert Thomson

"Timely confessional – zestfully observed, sharply written, and sprinkled with more lyricism and humour than a memoir of misery in Motherwell suggests" - Independent

"‘A nuanced, subtle and original account ... What could have been a flip idea with no real substance turns out to be a memoir which is both personally moving and a valuable historical document. Barr’s style is conversational, intimate and convincing, and he resists every opportunity to show off. He holds his nerve tackling the unfashionableness of his thesis – that Thatcher inspired even those she seemed to despise – and makes us smile along the way" - Literary Review

"Certain memoirs catch a moment and seem to define it, bottle it ... Damian Barr, I suspect, is about to do something of the same with this hugely entertaining book ... Full to the brim with poignancy, humour, brutality and energetic and sometimes shimmering prose, the book confounds one’s assumptions about those years and drenches the whole era in an emotionally charged comic grandeur. It is hugely affecting" - Sunday Times

"Beyond his Maggie cult, this memoir can boast a humour, bravery and brio that cross all party lines" - Independent

"This memoir of deprivation and survival is shrewdly constructed and written with a winning dry humour" - Guardian

"A brilliant, laugh-out-loud and profoundly moving Eighties memoir" - GQ

"An inspiring read" - Marie Claire

"By turns funny, tender, and heartbreaking, it is also a useful primer for anyone too young to remember what life was like in the industrial areas of Britain enduring the changes wrought by Thatcherism... A gifted storyteller, weaving skilfully back and forth through time, and his unfussy prose flows delightfully... Splendid" - Independent on Sunday

"Hugely affecting memoir" - Sunday Times

"Unlike most volumes of this kind, Maggie & Me is short on jokes and long on raw, pungent atmosphere. Barr has a keen eye for wincingly evocative detail... Expressed with a kind of grim lyricism" - New Statesman

"A touching and darkly humorous memoir... Topical and heartfelt" - TNT Magazine

"Witty, gritty and inspiring" - Glamour

"Maggie and Me by Damian Barr has a startling new take on the former PM" - Herald

"Comi-tragic memoir" - Evening Standard

"A refreshing, affecting and ultimately triumphant account" - Metro

"Timely confessional – zestfully observed, sharply written, and sprinkled with more lyricism and humour than a memoir of misery in Motherwell suggests" - Independent

"A real storyline, touching and personal, and I found myself laughing" - Mail on Sunday

"[A] talented writer ... Barr captures very well how it is possible to learn and to love even in the most unpropitious environment. His book is the better for the strange loyalty it shows to the place he fled" - Daily Telegraph

"I was dazzled by the energy and verve of Damian Barr’s memoir, Maggie & Me ... I’ve been shoving copies into people’s hands all year" - Evening Standard

"Damian Barr’s wonderful memoir Maggie & Me … was the coming-of-age story of this year" - Observer

"Written with beautiful clarity and no self-pity – I look forward to seeing what he does next" - Observer

"Damian Barr’s Maggie & Me is easily my favourite book of 2013 ... There isn’t a trace of bitterness in the beautiful book. Only the radiant eloquence of a man whose courage and humanity shine from its pages" - New Statesman

"Charming, life-enhancing" - The Times

"Barr’s moving, funny, inspiring memoir of growing up gay in Motherwell is a virtuoso piece of autobiography that paints a vivid portrait of our country’s recent past" - Metro

"The surprisingly funny and positive story of growing up gay in a working-class town in Thatcher’s Britain. It’s worth the cover price for the Dirty Dancing scene alone" - Independent on Sunday