The Dear Green Place

WINNER OF THE GUARDIAN FICTION OF THE YEAR AWARD ONE OF THE LIST'S BEST SCOTTISH BOOKS OF ALL TIME Set in nineteen-sixties Glasgow, this novel portrays the struggles and conflicts of young working-class hero and would-be novelist Mat Craig, whose desire to define himself as an artist creates social and family tensions. This classic of Scottish twentieth-century literature is renowned for its vivid descriptions of Glasgow and the fight for individual creative expression; it remains as authentic and relevant more than fifty years after its original publication. Includes an Introduction by Alasdair Gray as well as Archie Hind's unfinished novel Fur Sadie and one of his essays 'Men of the Clyde'. * 'An exciting first novel worth a dozen more seasoned efforts' - Guardian 'The best novel ever written' - Skinny 'A touching insight into human strength and frailty' - Daily Mail

Archie Hind was born in 1928. Educated in Glasgow, where he has spent most of his life, his jobs have included bus driving, glass sculpting and data processing. He studied writing for a year at Newbattle College under Edwin Muir and attended WEA lectures by Jack Rillie of the English Department at Glasgow University; both men were to influence him and his writing. The Dear Green Place first published in 1966 is Hind's only novel and won both the Guardian Fiction Award and the Yorkshire Post's Award for Best Book.