The Two Roberts
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The Two Roberts
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See moreMeet Robert MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun: artists, lovers, outsiders. From 1930s Glasgow to wartime London, The Two Roberts is a captivating novel inspired by their wild lives
SHORTLISTED FOR THE NERO BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION 2025
SHORTLISTED FOR THE EDWARD STANFORD TRAVEL WRITING AWARD FOR FICTION 2026
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WINSTON GRAHAM PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2026
LONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2026
A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK
A BEST FICTION BOOK OF 2025 FOR THE GUARDIAN, THE OBSERVER, THE HERALD AND THE BBC
'Crackles with creative rebellion' DOUGLAS STUART
'Immensely sensual' ELIF SHAFAK
'A novel that brims over with generosity and warmth' OBSERVER
He will stay like this forever, Robert's arm draped round him. They will be forever twenty.
Scotland, 1933. Bobby MacBryde is off to the Glasgow School of Art, to his future. On his first day he will meet another Robert, a quiet man with loose dark curls - and never leave his side. With the world on the brink of war, their unrivalled talent takes them all over Europe, partying, loving, fighting, painting. In Soho, they become stars as the bombs fall.
Based on a true story, The Two Roberts is a stunningly imagined tale of devotion and obsession, art and class. It's a love letter to two almost-forgotten artists who fought to change the way the world sees - and paid a devastating price.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781837261253
Publisher: Canongate Books
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 27 August 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Canongate Books
Edition: Main
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 20.0mm
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 259g
Pages: 320
About the Author
Damian Barr is an award-winning writer and broadcaster. His memoir Maggie & Me won Stonewall Writer of the Year and Sunday Times Memoir of the Year. His debut novel You Will Be Safe Here was a BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime and named a Book of the Year in the Observer, Guardian and Irish Times. The Two Roberts has been shortlisted for the Nero Book Award, the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award, the Winston Graham Historical Prize, and was longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. Damian holds a PhD in Creative Writing and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. A champion for libraries, he lives in Brighton.
damianbarr.com | @mrdamianbarr
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