WATERSTONES AND FOYLES BOOK OF THE MONTH FOR SEPTEMBER 2026
SHORTLISTED FOR THE NERO BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION 2025
SHORTLISTED FOR THE EDWARD STANFORD TRAVEL WRITING AWARD FOR FICTION 2026
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WINSTON GRAHAM PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2026
LONGLISTED FOR SCOTLAND'S NATIONAL BOOK AWARD 2026
LONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2026
A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK
A BEST FICTION BOOK OF 2025 FOR THE GUARDIAN, THE OBSERVER, THE HERALD AND THE BBC

'Crackles with creative rebellion' DOUGLAS STUART
'immersive, intelligent, immensely sensual' ELIF SHAFAK
'A tender and evocative act of resurrection' JAMES CAHILL, SPECTATOR
'The greatest and truest story of two male lovers I have ever read' RUSSELL T DAVIES
'Deeply affecting . . . vivid and moving' PETER PARKER, THE TIMES

He will stay like this forever, Robert's arm draped round him. They will be forever twenty.

Scotland, 1933. Bobby MacBryde is off to the Glasgow School of Art. On his first day he will meet another Robert, a quiet man with loose dark curls - and never leave his side. With the world on the brink of war, their unrivalled talent takes them all over Europe, partying, loving, fighting, painting. The pair become stars as the bombs fall in this stunningly re-imagined true story of devotion and obsession, art and class.

"A tender and evocative act of resurrection . . . The humour, compassion and tragedy of the story are invested in the incompatible, inseparable characters at its heart" - * Spectator *

"Deeply affecting . . . Barr's description of the tentative and gradual way the couple's love for each other evolves is done beautifully . . . A vivid and moving portrait of two fine artists" - * The Times *

"A moving meditation on art, love and home . . . Barr mingles comedy and tragedy with wonderful fluidity" - * Guardian *

"A novel that brims over with generosity and warmth" - * Observer *