Be Guid Tae Yer Mammy by Emma Grae
Kate and her Granny Jean have nothing in common. Jean’s great claim to fame is raising her weans without two pennies to rub together, and Kate’s an aspiring scriptwriter whose anxiety has her stuck in bad thought after bad thought.
But what Jean’s Glaswegian family don’t know is that she dreamed of being a film star and came a hairsbreadth away from making it a reality.
Now in her nineties, Jean is a force to be reckoned with. But when the family starts to fall apart Jean must face her failings as a mammy head-on – and Kate too must fight her demons. Either that or let go of her dream of the silver screen forever...
About the author.
Emma Grae is a Scottish author and journalist from Glasgow. She has been writing in Scots since she was a student at the University of Strathclyde, tipsily coauthoring poems with fellow writer Lorna Wallace before moving on to write fiction in the language. She has published fiction and poetry in the UK and Ireland since 2014 in journals including The Honest Ulsterman, From Glasgow to Saturn and The Open Mouse. As a journalist, she writes under her birth surname, Guinness, and has bylines in a number of publications including Cosmopolitan, the Huffington Post and the Metro. Be Guid tae yer Mammy is her first novel.
@emmagraeauthor
Review
’Be Guid Tae Yer Mammy’ is a wonderful example of Scots literature and evoked many fond and not so fond memories of my family. To be honest it was a hard read for me as my family are spookily similar, live in Clydebank / Drumchapel and the inter dynamics between the generations definitely occurs in my clan. Yes, we do call ourselves ‘The Clan’! This book joins so many that I have read this year in the Scots language - Duck Feet, The Young Team and of course Shuggie Bain. Emma slots straight into here as her talent is amazing!
Let's just say now my Gran is not as evil as Granny Jean but wow they are similar! All about the family, cursing the family, not realising my aunt Netta was the best out of her kids, putting on her gladrags and oh the stories of the dancing etc. Emma has really put the spotlight on what a ‘typical’ working-class West of Scotland family looks like and tackles the hard issues of alcoholism, feminism, mental health, declining socioeconomic areas, the lack of opportunities for the working class, chronic illness but also love. As you may fight and argue but deep down they all love one another. Plus, this book is funny - from the opening scene of giving birth on the ferry to the dancing with a stookie. I was crying with laughter at some points.
This is a brilliant look at family life and more importantly female life in the West of Scotland. Every one of them is complex, has their own dreams and loves but also their mistakes and failures. People are perfect and this novel is a great reflection of this. I urge you to read it!
