Kate and her Granny Jean have nothing in common. Jean’s great claim to fame is raising her weans without two pennies to rub together, and Kate’s an aspiring scriptwriter whose anxiety has her stuck in bad thought after bad thought.

But what Jean’s Glaswegian family don’t know is that she dreamed of being a film star and came a hairsbreadth away from making it a reality.

Now in her nineties, Jean is a force to be reckoned with. But when the family starts to fall apart Jean must face her failings as a mammy head-on – and Kate too must fight her demons. Either that or let go of her dream of the silver screen forever...

An interesting exploration of the authors love of running and music. Their enthusiasm really shines through the text. The writing is filled with humour. This book would be of interest to anybody who loved Murakami's on running. It would make a great gift for music fans and for those who love running.

Set in the west coast of Scotland, Be Guid Tae Yer Mammy tells the story of Jeannie and her slightly dysfunctional Catholic family. Told through different perspectives, we read the story through the eyes of Jeannie, granny and head of the clan, Stella-Marie, her daughter, and Isla and Kate, the two granddaughters. Written in Scots, this book might be harder for some to read but I found it flowed brilliantly and loved how the intensity of Scots varied depending on who the narrator was! This is such a clever way to write a book and really highlighted the differences between the ages of the characters.

This may be her debut novel but Emma Grae has certainly achieved great things with her characterisation. I found it very easy to imagine exactly what Jeannie was like and found myself comparing her with aspects of my grannies; the good aspects as Jeannie isn’t always the most pleasant of characters! I loved that Isla and Kate were so willing to stand up for their mum and you really saw their closeness whilst other relationships in the family were fracturing.

This is a book full of emotion and it was very easy to find yourself immersed in the family dynamics; going from feelings of sheer anger, to feeling heartbroken and then laughing your head off! I think there is something in this book that everyone can relate to and there were times when you almost forgot you were reading fiction and it was so well done.

Another shining example of excellent Scottish fiction and Emma Grae has cemented herself as a brilliant debut novelist with a lot more to give!

Hello… Was I reading a book about my life or what (mine may have slightly less family drama 😉)?? I adored this book and how relatable it is to growing up in Scotland and I found myself nodding along to so much of it! The mental health rep is amazing and helps with the relatable characters! There’s a lot of drama with everything that goes on for Stella Marie, Jeannie and her family and I adored the characters so much!

Multi-generational viewpoints was really interesting and I loved getting to hear about the characters dreams and goals and their mentality about achieving them, especially across the generations. A really great 5 star Scottish book that I’d highly, highly recommend!!

This was such a raw and emotive read, I loved the writing and the characters and I found the story really interesting