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The Two Roberts

By Damian Barr
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Brief Description
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... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2799
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Releases 5th January 2027 (Approx. Date) Pre-order  "The Two Roberts" now to secure your copy from our first shipment

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Meet 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

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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

Collections

Arts & Culture Coming Soon in Fiction Damian Barr Fiction General Fiction Historical Fiction LGBTQ+ LGBTQ+ Romance Pre-order Books Pre-orders Pre-orders by Release Date

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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  • The Two Roberts
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