Maggie & Me: Coming Out and Coming of Age in 1980s Scotland

On October 12, 1984, an IRA bomb blows apart the Grand Hotel in Brighton, England. Miraculously, Margaret Thatcher survives. Meanwhile, in small-town Scotland, eight-year-old Damian Barr watches in horror as his mother rips her wedding ring off and packs their bags. He knows he, too, must survive.

Damian, his sister, and his Catholic mother move in with her sinister new boyfriend, while his Protestant dad shacks up with the glamorous “Mary the Canary.” Divided by sectarian suspicion, the community is held together by the sprawling Ravenscraig Steelworks. But darkness threatens as Thatcher takes hold: she snatches school milk, smashes the unions, and makes greed good. But Damian follows Maggie's advice, working hard and planning his escape. He discovers that stories can save your life, and—in spite of violence, strikes, and AIDS—manages to fall in love dancing to Madonna in Glasgow's only gay club.

Maggie & Me is a touching and darkly witty memoir about surviving Thatcher's Britain.It’s about coming out the other side in spite of, and maybe because of, the Iron Lady.