Bookseller Reviews
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Teenage Kicks
"Teenage dreams so hard to beat." These lyrics from John Peel's favourite record aptly applies to this new book by Andrew O'Hagan (which is more a novella)... READ MORE
A portrait of a friendship....
You don’t see many stories told about male friendship.
The first part of the story is set in Scotland in the summer of 1986, we follow James and his best... READ MORE
Stunning
A beautiful story about life and friendship. Rich characters, laughter and tears interwoven with the simple message to live in the now. Heart wrenching, in... READ MORE
A beautiful tale of friendship
Mayflies is a tale of a deep and lasting friendship in two parts – the first set in 1986, when James and Tully make an unforgettable trip to a music festiv... READ MORE
A heartbreaking balance of life and death
This novel had me tearing up in too many public places. The writing is slick and fast-paced with quick witted dialogue and strong passionate characters who... READ MORE
Mayflies captures the essence of friendship perfectly.
Mayflies captures the essence of friendships perfectly; from wild youth to middle age, it’s a brilliantly witty and beautifully told tale of the lengths we... READ MORE
Beautifully Heartbreaking
An ode to male to friend shipped dripping in 80’s nostalgia and heartfelt emotion.
Synopsis
Shortlisted for the Portico Prize 2022
From the widely renowned author Andrew O'Hagan, a heartbreaking novel of an extraordinary lifelong friendship.
Everyone has a Tully Dawson: the friend who defines your life. In the summer of 1986, in a small Scottish town, James and Tully ignite a brilliant friendship based on music, films and the rebel spirit.
With school over and the locked world of their fathers before them, they rush towards the climax of their youth: a magical weekend in Manchester, the epicentre of everything that inspires them in working-class Britain. There, against the greatest soundtrack ever recorded, a vow is made: to go at life differently.
Thirty years on, half a life away, the phone rings. Tully has news.
Mayflies is a memorial to youth's euphorias and to everyday tragedy. A tender goodbye to an old union, it discovers the joy and the costs of love.
Publisher information
- Publisher: Faber & Faber
- ISBN: 9780571273683
- Number of pages: 288
- Dimensions: 216 x 135 x 20 mm
- Weight: 398g
- Languages: English
Customer Reviews
View allWonderful
The first half of Mayflies set in the 80s is vibrant, funny, and exciting as a bunch of friends go to Manchester for a weekend to attend a concert. The sec... READ MORE
An interesting but too conventionally linear examination of male friendship
Andrew O’Hagan has written five previous novels: his first was Booker shortlisted, his second (based around Lena Zavaroni) one Britain’s oldest literary pr... READ MORE
Bliss was it was in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven…
‘Mayflies’ - what an evocative and perfectly-chosen title. The most ephemeral of creatures, with just a single day to live its whole life, emerging to danc... READ MORE
Bliss was it was in that dawn to be alive, and to be young was very heaven…
‘Mayflies’ - what an evocative and perfectly-chosen title. The most ephemeral of creatures, with just a single day to live its whole life, emerging to danc... READ MORE
Andrew O'Hagan – Mayflies
Tully Dawson is the best friend one could ever wish for. When James’ struggles with his parents become unsupportable, he takes him to his home. Their frien... READ MORE
Male friendships that last a lifetime
This is about male friendships that last a lifetime. The friendship of Jimmy and Tully is forged in their teenage years. Jimmy's parents have both abandone... READ MORE
Just. Read. This.
'They say you know nothing at eighteen. But there are things you know at eighteen that you will never know again.'
People of a certain age will recognise ... READ MORE
We are all mayflies
They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it’s night once more.
This quotation from Samuel Beckett kept running through my mi... READ MORE
A love letter to male friendship
This is a beautiful and heartbreaking tale of male friendship over several decades, in sickness and in health. I chuckled many times in the first half - an... READ MORE
This novel commemorates male friendships and gives them more depth than is often written about.
The first half of 'Mayflies' by Andrew O'Hagan tells the story of a group of lads from Ayrshire; negotiating young adulthood during Thatcherite Britain, an... READ MORE
Heartbreaking
This is most definitely a book of two halves. In the first half it is 1986; James and Tully and their mates go on a bender in Manchester. Whilst I enjoyed ... READ MORE
Mayflies
This was a very character led book. We follow a bunch of friends back in the late 80s when they skipped Glasgow to head to Manchester for a music festival ... READ MORE
Gorgeous coming of age story from the male perspective
A truly beautiful tale of male friendship.
Mayflies is split between the 1980s and the modern day and follows the lives of Jimmy and Tully, best friends w... READ MORE
More than teenage kicks.
It's difficult to say how a Scottish working class milieu can pull off the literary and the soulful in a narrative which in itself is very post-modern. The... READ MORE
Worth reading
Andrew O'Hagan, author and editor at large of the London Review of Books, takes us in the initial part of the book to the 80s and zones into a particular w... READ MORE
A wonderfully emotional coming of age story.
Mayflies is a book of two halves, and I really enjoyed both.
The first half, set in 1986, follows a group of friends who travel down to Manchester from th... READ MORE
A slow-burn melancholy
Mayflies starts with a beautiful verse by William Butler Yeats about friendship and how some people find the most glory of their life in their lifelong fri... READ MORE
Doesn't say anything new
MAYFLIES tells the story of James and Tully, an explosive friendship spanning from the mid-1980s music scene to the present. The characters are distinctive... READ MORE
Manchester, music, and male friendship that lasts forever!
Mayflies is a rather touching tale about the wonder of male friendship. Not perfect, but not rubbish by any means. If you are after a bit of 1980s Manche... READ MORE
Mayflies
A real cracker, how special and beautiful friendships create the best we are .
fascinating, touching and thought provoking
The book divides neatly into two parts.
Part one builds the story of the closeness between the 2 key characters, both in their late teens/early 20s and th... READ MORE
True…
Great, light read. I came across Andrew O’Hagan while reading “Tales of Two Londons” which included one short story by him and I was immediately compelled ... READ MORE
Really tugging on the heart strings
This book is an absolutely wonderful work of art
I was drawn to it over a love of music life and friendship and it really surprised me, I have not for a ... READ MORE
A life of 2 halves
Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagan
Isn’t it a fact that there is a special connection you have with friends you grew up with; one which even future partners hav... READ MORE
Phenomenal read
This was a phenomenal read. Quirky and emotive with a good lump of scottish black humour thrown in but PLEASE don't forego just because some of it is set i... READ MORE
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