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Thank you to #Netgalley and #Canongate publishers for access to an arc for review.
Within just 100 pages, McMillan paints a very rich and honest account of a family growing up around the miner's strike, in Thatcher's Britain. Alongside a developing relationship with Ryan, Simon floats between jobs, trying to leave his mark on the world as a drag queen.
Cont. ⬇
The characters are portrayed so well for such a short book. I found it full of hope, love, loss and in an empowering way, grief. McMillan also lands a political punch at the rise in poverty, the loss of community and camaraderie between the miners. The passages describing the men coming out of their houses early every morning, setting off to the mine in a communal walk were especially profound and moving.
What an extraordinary debut. 11mo