Crime fiction set in WYOMING and MONTANA
Historical novel set mainly in GLASGOW and Southern England
18th February 2026
The Two Roberts by Damian Barr, historical novel set mainly in Glasgow and Southern England.
Shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2026 – Fiction With A Sense Of Place
Robert MacBryde (Bobby) and Robert Colquhoun (Robert) are two young working class lads from Ayrshire, who happen to win scholarships to the Glasgow School of Art in the 1930s. They are very different people, commuting from their homes to dive into the world of art, keen to learn everything they can. Gradually they bond and became so close that decades later someone remarks “You couldnae see daylight between the pair of yous in Glasgow”
They choose to rent a garret to save the commute from their respective homes but the slow burning attraction is kindled once they are ensconced in their loft. The author does a great job of describing the first intimate stirrings as they navigate their way into their new life. As the frost settles on their roof light, they brew coffee on their hob (I do wonder whether impoverished students at that point in time would have been able to afford coffee, indeed whether it would even have been available given the rumble of war?), and they revel in their mutual attraction. It is a time, of course, when homosexuality is outlawed, and the author describes the pressure of hiding their liaison and being circumspect with whom they share their deepening relationship.
They throw themselves into their studies and achieve incredible results, winning a trip to London to acquaint themselves with the artists on the curriculum. It’s then on to Paris and Rome (via a scrap in Marseille) where they start collecting the buttons from their individual and joint conquests.
World War Two inevitably impacts their lives. The second half of the novel sees them move to London, mixing with famous artists, and then on to the South Coast, where they settle for some time in Lewes. Inevitably their success does not develop in tandem and one of them sees greater acclaim. War experience and pressure on the relationship cause fractures, and that unsettled feeling is reflected in the story telling, as these two individuals encounter stumbling blocks at every turn. Even director Ken Russell takes an interest in these “two Bohemian artists struggling in picturesque poverty” and created a film about them titled “Scottish Painters”. It feels a great deal of research went into the novel
This novel brings into the limelight two apparently supremely competent artists who deserve wider recognition. Theirs is a poignant story that transports the reader into the world of art, and details the agony of loving someone of the same sex in the early/middle part of the 20th Century. There is a good sense of time and place.
It is also a poignant choice of subject given there are have been two fires at the Glasgow School of Art and this Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed building was destroyed in the 2018 incident.
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