When Janie Ryan is born shes just the latest in a long line of Ryan women Aberdeen fishwives to the marrow always ready to fight. Her violet-eyed Grandma had predicted shed be sly while blowing Benson & Hedges smoke rings over her Mas swollen belly. In the hospital her family approached her suspiciously so close she could smell whether theyd had booze or food for breakfast. It was mostly booze. Tony Hogan" tells the story of a Scottish childhood of filthy council flats & B& Bs screeching women feckless men fags & booze & drugs the dole queue & bread & marge sandwiches. It is also the story of an irresistible irrepressible heroine a dysfunctional family you cant help but adore the absurdities of the eighties & the fierce bonds that tie people together no matter what. Told in an arrestingly original
- & cry-out-loud funny
- voice it launches itself headlong into the middle of one of lifes great fights between the pull of the past & the freedom of the future. & Janie Ryan born & bred for combat is ready to win."