The Private Side of Friendship
A Standalone Novel
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Birlinn General
Published:2nd Oct '25
Should be back in stock very soon
Featured on BBC Radio 4's Take Four Books
Six friends. One city. The time of their lives.
It’s 1988, and on the verge of a reunion with friends she hasn’t seen since graduation, Julie recalls her halcyon student days of 1984 and the strange tumultuous time they lived through.
The friends – each from a very different background – are living in a gorgeous terraced flat in their Edinburgh idyll. As they navigate relationships and the unspoken rules of flat sharing, the troubled world all around them seems rather distant. But in the nearby hometown of one of the flatmates, the Miners' Strike is bringing about a huge political shift.
Despite their differences, can these six strangers help each other see the world from a different perspective? Is there such a thing as being too close? And what are the limits of love between friends?
'Pushing into new territory ... [a] typically thoughtful and entertaining novel'
* The Scotsman *'Warm, uplifting, and totally compelling, I couldn’t put it down. Perfect for curling up with a hot chocolate and a slice of cake on a chilly evening, it’s guaranteed to lift your mood'
* Sixty Plus Surfers *'a sweet novel infused with a love of the Athens of the North'
* Saga Magazine *'One of the world's best known authors, takes readers to a city he knows very well – as six young Edinburgh students embark on a flatshare and navigate new friendships against the backdrop of social unrest of the 1980s miners’ strikes'
* BBC Radio 4 Take 4 Books *'A gentle read with an insightful look at friendships established during what is for many people a formative stage of their lives'
* Portobello Book BlISBN: 9781846977299
Dimensions: 216mm x 135mm x 18mm
Weight: 392g
272 pages