There’s Only One Danny Garvey
Danny Garvey was a sixteen-year old footballing prodigy. Professional clubs clamoured to sign him, and a glittering future beckoned. And yet, his early promise remained unfulfilled, and Danny is back home in the tiny village of Barshaw to manage the struggling junior team he once played for. What’s more, he’s hiding a secret about a tragic night, thirteen years earlier, that changed the course of several lives. There’s only one Danny Garvey, they once chanted ... and that’s the problem.
A story of irrational hopes and fevered dreams – of unstoppable passion and unflinching commitment in the face of defeat – There’s Only One Danny Garvey is, above all, an unforgettable tale about finding hope and redemption in the most unexpected of places.
About the author.
David F. Ross was born in Glasgow in 1964 and has lived in Kilmarnock for over 30 years. He is a graduate of the Mackintosh School of Architecture at Glasgow School of Art, an architect by day, and a hilarious social media commentator, author and enabler by night. His debut novel The Last Days of Discowas shortlisted for the Authors Club Best First Novel Award, and received exceptional critical acclaim, as did the other two books in the Disco Days Trilogy: The Rise & Fall of the Miraculous Vespasand The Man Who Loved Islands. David lives in Ayrshire.
Review
‘There Is Only One Danny Garvey’ is a brilliant portrayal of west Scottish male psyche, a tale of family disconnections, a stark look at small village life, and the ramifications of past events that reverberate through a person’s life. This book was devoured in two days and the characters straight away grabbed my heart and they still haven’t let go. Plus that ending! OMFG! Don’t think an ending has made me speechless before. I am actually unable to process it. I think it will stay with me forever.
First off the bat is I don’t like football. I grew up in Glasgow and saw the sectarian divisions and the violence that went with in my own family so I stick to tennis! However, you don’t need to know a thing about fitba at all to enjoy this book. Yes, it is centred around Barshaw football club but the themes running through it have nothing to do with this sport. Don’t let the football aspect put you off as you will miss a gem of a book if you do.
Danny Garvey was once the star of the his local football club before he was signed for Aberdeen and went off to make his fortune. But we find him in Arbroath managing the local youth team when his ‘uncle’ Higgy turns up to persuade to come home to Barshaw and manage the team there. Danny is reluctant to face the past, his dying mum and his banged up brother but he takes the job and makes an untriumhpant return home.
Danny kind of buries his head in the sand and only concentrates on the team, he is living with Higgy on his sofa, refuses to visit either his mum or his brother. But then he bumps into a boy wearing a space helmet who recites footballers out loud. This is Damo who turns out to be his nephew. I adored the character of Damo and the portrayal of his autism. As a reader in 2021 it’s clearly apparent that he is on the spectrum straight away, but in the books time period of 1997 it wasn’t a condition that was well known about, especially if you live in a small ex-mining village in Ayrshire. I found that the author dealt with this topic with a sincere wish to put across a nuanced character based in the reality of this condition.
This is an authentic picture of life on and off the terraces in the west of Scotland, where Thatcherism has destroyed communities, families and their working lives. The pits have closed. Alcoholism drugs and violence is rife. There is a lot of swearing in this book so it’s not for the faint hearted but in a way it’s the embodiment of the culture of that time period. I’m sure there is just as much swearing nowadays on the pitch. This may be the land of the ‘hard man’, where the most violent and manipulative ned rules the roost. Danny had a childhood full of this, a mother who suffers from addiction, a brother in and out of prison but he had his football. This was his grounding and his deliverance. It allowed him to escape. Just as reading is for many of us football was the same to him.
I can’t say much more about the storyline as I don’t want to spoil this for any future readers. There are pivotal points for me, scenes that will stay etched in my memory. In a nut shell this book is about the psychology of self-representation, the tricks of memory, those walls that you build to protect yourself. There are little hints, breadcrumbs along the way but when you get to that revelation boy does this book do a 180! Once it all fits together you do go ‘fuck’ and put the book down for a bit to process it.
I have no hesitation in giving this book 5⭐️. It’s writing it sublime, the plot is terrific and it’s definitely my book of the year so far. It will definitely take a lot to knock it off that spot. Just flaming read the thing folks.
