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Slum Boy by Juano Diaz

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Slum Boy

Author
Juano Diaz
Narrator
Juano Diaz
Publisher
Octopus
Publish Date
29 February 2024
Run Time
7 hours 14 minutes
Format
Audiobook
Genre
Poverty and precarity, True stories of survival of abuse and injustice, Memoirs, Housing and homelessness
$13.95

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What to expect

'A heart-breaking, inspiring read' ALAN CUMMING
'ONE OF THE MOST MOVING ACCOUNTS OF NON-FICTION EVER WRITTEN' GUARDIAN
'If you like Shuggie Bain, then Slum Boy is for you' LEMN SISSAY
John MacDonald is a four-year-old boy growing up in the slums of Glasgow. His mother is an addict who leaves him starving in their flat for days at a time.

When a neighbour files a report, John is wrenched away from her and dropped into the care system. There, he has experiences he's too young to understand which his Romani adoptive parents silence as he grows into a gay man.

But John dreams of being reunited with his mother and will stop at nothing to find her. Slum Boy is about how, against all odds, John found a way to his mother and true identity: JUANO DIAZ.

'Remarkable' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

In 2024, Juano Diaz was awarded the Pride Award for LGBTQ+ Heroes Changing the World.
'Beautiful. I hope it finds a million readers' ANDREW O'HAGAN

Critics Review

  • The best book we have ever read

    Gilbert & George

  • Beautifully written... This elegant memoir immediately brings to mind Shuggie Bain. Slum Boy is one of the most moving accounts of non-fiction ever written

    Guardian

  • What a brave and powerful story. If you like Shuggie Bain and Damian Barr, then Slum Boy is for you

    Lemn Sissay, author of My Name Is Why

  • Powerful... A remarkable and moving tale of survival

    Times Literary Supplement

See more reviews
  • A heart-breaking, inspiring read

    Alan Cumming, author of Not my Father's Son

  • This is a heart-breaking story, beautifully told

    Andrew O'Hagan, author of Caledonian Road

  • Fans of Douglas Stuart and Damian Barr will pounce on this startling debut. Compulsively readable, it's Dickensian in its rich cast of Glaswegian characters

    Patrick Gale, author of Mother's Boy

  • Vivid prose, novelistic pacing and Diaz's palpable passion for the creative life makes this sing... Remarkable

    Publishers Weekly

  • An extraordinary survival story

    Sophie Fiennes, creator of Grace Jones

  • I laughed and cried. A masterpiece

    Joey Arias

  • A reminder that beautiful things grow and flourish

    Christie Watson, author of The Language of Kindness

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Details
Author
Juano Diaz
Narrator
Juano Diaz
Duration
7 hours 14 minutes
Release Date
29 February 2024
ISBN
9781914240850
Format
Audiobook
Publisher
Octopus
Genre
Poverty and precarity, True stories of survival of abuse and injustice, Memoirs, Housing and homelessness

Synopsis

'A heart-breaking, inspiring read' ALAN CUMMING'ONE OF THE MOST MOVING ACCOUNTS OF NON-FICTION EVER WRITTEN' GUARDIAN 'If you like Shuggie Bain, then Slum Boy is for you' LEMN SISSAYJohn MacDonald is a four-year-old boy growing up in the slums of Glasgow. His mother is an addict who leaves him starving in their flat for days at a time.When a neighbour files a report, John is wrenched away from her and dropped into the care system. There, he has experiences he's too young to understand which his Romani adoptive parents silence as he grows into a gay man.But John dreams of being reunited with his mother and will stop at nothing to find her. Slum Boy is about how, against all odds, John found a way to his mother and true identity: JUANO DIAZ.'Remarkable' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENTIn 2024, Juano Diaz was awarded the Pride Award for LGBTQ+ Heroes Changing the World.'Beautiful. I hope it finds a million readers' ANDREW O'HAGAN

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