The Glasgow coma scale - Neil D. A. Stewart

When Lynne offers money to a homeless man on Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street she is shocked to recognise Angus, her former art tutor from college. Lynne once revered him, even dreamed of becoming an artist under his tutelage. Now, she works as a supervisor at an insurance call-centre. And as for Angus, he has fallen on even harder times . . .

She insists on inviting him to stay at her flat, but just as Angus doesn't go out of his way to explain the reasons for his misfortune, neither is Lynne's insistence on taking him in to her home purely altruistic.

The Glasgow Coma Scale is a barbed love letter to the city, a dysfunctional romance, and a story about damage: the kind done unthinkingly, the kind done deliberately, and the worst sort - the harm we do even as we're trying to do 'the right thing'.

'Neil Stewart is the kind of writer who appears once in a generation, gifts fully formed. Through the unforgettable duo of Angus and Lynne, he takes us to places where other novels fear to treat, from the perils of life on a park bench through the murky grey areas of love to the ineffable mysteries of art. Compassionate, brave, singing with life, The Glasgow Coma Scale is an outstanding debut from an extraordinary talent.' Paul Murray, author of Skippy Dies