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Local Shelf lets you browse the films, TV, books and audiobooks you can borrow from the city's libraries. It's a free, unofficial community project.

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Book

Like birds in the wilderness

by Agnes Owens

2026· 176 pages

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On the shelf? Just pop in.

The building trade in the west of Scotland has slowed and Mac leaves for the oil-rich north to seek his fortune. But he soon finds himself out in the wilderness, chasing the promise of a job. In the meantime, he's fallen for Nancy, but he can't tear himself away from the other love of his life: the drink. This darkly comic novel is a tale of addiction, masculinity and the precarious nature of employment for working-class men in 1980s Scotland.

Language: English
Publisher: Polygon
ISBN: 9781846977596

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Not on shelf

Gentlemen of the West

Agnes Owens · 2026