Mayflies

In 1986 Glasgow, teenagers Jimmy and Tully forge an instant connection through their shared passion for music, films, and dreams of escape from their working-class lives. Their friendship becomes the center of a larger group of young men who spend one transformative summer together filled with cultural obsessions, wild nights out, and plans for the future. Thirty years later, the two friends reunite in very different circumstances. Their relationship faces a new reality as they must navigate profound changes while holding onto their lifelong bond and memories of their youth. The narrative moves between past and present, contrasting the energy and optimism of adolescence with the complexities of middle age. O'Hagan captures both time periods with precise details of music, fashion, and social attitudes that shaped each era. This meditation on male friendship examines how early connections shape our lives and how we face mortality while carrying the memories of our most vital days. The novel considers what endures when everything else changes, and how we honor the people who helped form who we became.

Readers describe Mayflies as an authentic portrayal of male friendship and coming-of-age in 1980s Scotland. Reviews highlight O'Hagan's ability to capture music, youth culture, and working-class life of the period. Liked: - Emotional depth of the friendship between main characters - Accurate depiction of 1980s music scene and cultural references - Raw, realistic dialogue - Balance of humor and serious themes Disliked: - Slow pacing in second half - Shift in tone between parts one and two - Some found the musical references too numerous - Several readers struggled with Scottish dialect/slang Ratings: Goodreads: 4.2/5 (5,800+ ratings) Amazon UK: 4.5/5 (2,300+ ratings) Amazon US: 4.3/5 (800+ ratings) Notable reader comments: "Captures perfectly that feeling of invincibility in your youth" - Goodreads "Too much name-dropping of bands and songs" - Amazon reviewer "The dialogue rings absolutely true" - Waterstones review

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🦋 The novel is inspired by the author's real friendship with Keith Martin, who passed away from AIDS-related illness in 2021. 📚 "Mayflies" consists of two distinct parts set 30 years apart: 1986 in Manchester and 2017 in Glasgow, reflecting how time transforms both people and places. 🎸 The book's 1986 segment heavily features the vibrant post-punk music scene, with references to bands like The Fall, New Order, and The Smiths. 🏆 "Mayflies" won the Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose at the 2021 LA Times Book Prizes. 🎭 Before becoming a novelist, Andrew O'Hagan worked as a newspaper delivery boy in Glasgow and later became an editor-at-large for Esquire and the London Review of Books.