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Maggie & Me: Coming Out and Coming of Age in 1980s Scotland

by Damian Barr

Bloomsbury. 2013. 256p. ISBN 9781620405888. pap. $16; ebk. ISBN 9781620405895.

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British journalist Barr's memoir begins with the news that Margaret Thatcher has survived the 1984 IRA bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton. He is eight years old. From that moment on, Thatcher becomes his role model for survival. He survives his mother's abusive boyfriend, his homophobic classmates, and his mother's drunken friends in their council house. Told with dark humor, Barr's book offers vivid descriptions of life in working-class Scotland.

Reviewed by Lisa N. Johnston , Mar 01, 2014

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