Galloway Street: Growing Up Irish in Scotland

by John Boyle

John Boyle was born and raised in Scotland, but he could never feel Scottish. His parents were poor immigrants from the west of Ireland, who came to Scotland to find work and eventually settled in Paisley. This memoir captures the poverty and rough humor of the Boyle family's life.

Genres: Fiction

309 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2001

About the author

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Reviews

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this memoir, written from a young boy’s perspective, of growing up in Scotland.

[Lizp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about migration from Ireland to Scotland. A memoir about a boy born in the 1940s whose family migrated from remote Achill Island to the rough streets of Scotland. It describes the harshness and misery of living in abject poverty, without engaging in a smidgen of self pity.

This type of migration from Ireland to Scotland was once very prevalent, and now is no more. The Irish who engaged in such migration created their own world on arrival in Scotland, never quite knowing where they belonged . When he’s 10, the main protagonist, John, is sent back to Achill for a time to live with his aunt. On his return to Scotland, he’s seen as very different locally. “My Irish accent is getting me into trouble. My mammy is pleased because I’m pure plain-spoken now, as she calls it, and she never had much time for the Scottish accent anyhow.”

This is a very well written, poignant book. It’s written in an engaging and colloquial style.

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know anything about John Boyle other than the brief introduction on the inside cover of this volume, a book I found quite by chance in a thrift store in Montana, so I don't know what led to his memoir of growing up in Paisley, Scotland, being selected for publication, but I'm glad it was and I'm glad I read it. The voice in the book is authentic small boy and he captures the cadences and idioms of working-class Irish living in Scotland and of their more indigenous counterparts beautifully, or the blend of both, as in this passage where he tries to explain to his little brother that there is no Santa Claus (p. 110): "It wis probly Mr McNulty bumpin' intae the furniture in the dark. Kiddin' oan. Or mebbe he wis drunk or somethin', how wid Ah know? Ah'm tellin' ye. There's nae such thing as Santa Claus. It's jist a story people tell their weans." As with most nostalgic reminiscences, there is a twinge of melancholy throughout the book, and the leitmotif seems to be the plight of those living in a kind of permanent exile from true home and belonging, as becomes clear in the chapter where he is sent to Ireland to live with an aunt in County Mayo and finds he is just as much a foreigner there as he is in Protestant Scotland. There is no self-pity in this book however, and a good bit of humor (his attempt to explain to a priest where he thinks the soul is located is especially riotous), and if the mark of good writing is to transport the reader to a time and place she has never been, then this book hits pretty close to a bull's eye.

[Vincent Eaton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A re-read of this fine memoir. A list of modifiers. Delicate. Graphic. Tender. Miserable. Insightful. Lingering. Coarse. Dreamy. Raw. Polished. Beautifully done and a testament to his high writing talent, from a recent deceased friend.

[Hilary Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this little book, as it brought memories of my Mother’s family who also came to Scotland from Ireland.. especially the terminology and phrases used growing up.

[Maaike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vond het boek vooral goed vóór het tripje naar Ierland. Het tripje was maar heel kort en de relevantie van dat tripje is me ook niet helemaal duidelijk geworden. Het boek lijkt daarna ineens geschreven uit een soort misplaatste nostalgische verlangens naar een gekke tante, terwijl het daarvoor een mooie, verhalende weergave van de Ierse jeugd in Schotland was. Het lijkt net alsof er een reden voor het boek nodig was (de tante), terwijl het verhaal zelf al interessant genoeg was. Dát of de relevantie van de tante is niet duidelijk genoeg gemaakt. Dus het had 5 sterren van me gekregen als me wel duidelijk was geworden wat de tante in het verhaal deed.

[Gail Marchant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story of Irish living in Scotland - in 1941 many families moved to Scotland this tell the of John Boyle and his family religion being poor & living in slum conditions

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good tale of a boy growing up in Paisley, Scotland - since I have been there, I enjoyed it!