The next book to be featured this season on the Sara Cox Radio 2 Book Club is The Two Roberts by Damian Barr—an intoxicating and brave novel which reimagines one of the strongest and most passionate love stories of modern British art, Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde, as the Second World War draws near.
The book will be released on 4 September and Damian’s interview with Sara is on BBC Sounds from Tuesday 2 September.
We have 10 copies to give away to one lucky book club – to enter, visit our offers page.
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We also have an exclusive extract.
The Two Roberts
He will stay like this forever, Robert’s arm draped round him. They will be forever twenty.
Scotland, 1933. Bobby MacBryde is on his way. After years grafting at Lees Boot Factory, he’s off to the Glasgow School of Art, to his future. On his first day he will meet another Robert, a quiet man with loose dark curls – and never leave his side.
Together they will spend every penny and every minute devouring Glasgow – its botanical gardens, the Barras market, a whole hidden city – all the while loving each other behind closed doors. With the world on the brink of war, their unrivalled talent will take them to Paris, Rome, London. They will become stars as the bombs fall, hosting wild parties with the likes of Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and Elizabeth Smart. But the brightest stars burn fastest.
Stunningly reimagined, The Two Roberts is a profoundly moving story of devotion and obsession, art and class. It is a love letter to MacBryde and Colquhoun, the almost-forgotten artists who tried to change the way the world sees – and paid a devastating price.
About the author
Damian Barr is an award-winning writer, broadcaster and journalist. His memoir _Maggie & Me_, won Stonewall Writer of the Year and Sunday Times Memoir of the Year. His debut novel, _You Will Be Safe Here_, was shortlisted for six major awards. He has written columns for The Times and Sunday Times and hosted Front Row on BBC Radio 4, as well as his own series Guide Books. He brought books back to television with the Big Scottish Book Club, syndicated internationally. Also on BBC TV, he presented Shelf Isolation and the landmark documentary for Sir Walter Scott’s 250th.
Damian holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Lancaster University and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His world-famous Literary Salon ran from 2008 to 2023, celebrating writers from around the world and widening the cultural conversation. He is a trustee of Gladstone’s Library and a campaigner for libraries. He lives in Brighton.
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