This book brought back many memories for me as I moved to
Edinburgh in 1991, just a few years after the year the story is set in. Edinburgh
at that time was the drug capital of Europe and it was a rude awakening for me
to discover that the beautiful city I had moved to had such a seedy underbelly.
I quickly learned to recognise a junky. Working in the jewellery trade, a runny
nose, glassy eyes and an unkempt appearance made us extra alert. It should have
made Mandy, the mother in the book alert too, but she didn’t realise her two
eldest were using drugs until one ended up in hospital to have her stomach
pumped. Her son was by this time a frequent Heroine user. A lot of people might
be baffled by her naivity, but I think Edinburgh’s drug and AIDS problem got so
out of hand because people in 1986 were not as knowledgeable as we are today. What
I found harder to believe was the fact that Mandy couldn’t see that her youngest
son was having problems of a different kind. Her neglect of him, led him to act
out by shoplifting. She should have realised that he needed her too and that
his problem was easier to fix than the drug use of the other two. I thought the
book was well written, and even though the subject matter was harrowing at
times I had no hesitation in reading on. I can’t say that stories like this don’t
happen anymore in Edinburgh, but a lot of the areas in the book have improved,
especially The Shore. In the book it is an area where street walkers ply their
trade. These days it’s full of trendy bars and expensive restaurants. Read
Train Spotting and this book as it will give you a good insight into Edinburgh
of the 80’s and 90’s, but don’t let it put you off visiting this beautiful
town.
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