Jamie's keepsake

Gallagher, Michael

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Summary

Two housing scheme boys dream up a plan to steal priceless antiques from a nearby stately mansion... antiques that are designated for the Burrell Museum and have been stored in packing crates for decades. It’s a plan that grows with them through their adolescent scrapes and battles. But one of them is really after the masterpiece portrait that hangs in the mansion house library. It obsesses him because it reminds him of his mother, at her happiest and best, like she was before his brother died. 'Pollok Country Park on the outskirts of Glasgow is the idyllic setting for Michael Gallagher’s wonderfully written novel. He grew up in the nearby housing estate, and often heard tales of boys who stole ancient artefacts from Pollok Mansion House, including Ming vases that were destined for the Burrell Museum. When similar treasures, mysteriously “found in the attic and found in a shoe box” appeared at London art auctions, (factual) it spurred Michael into writing the book. But this is not a crime novel. It is an outstanding and ultimately gripping coming-of-age story, delicately dealing with social history and themes of loss, adolescence, motivation and love. And told without the usual Glasgow stereotypes. Jamie’s Keepsake is the first real cultural response to the Burrell Collection, ‘gifted’ to Glasgow in 1944 and reopened to the public in 2022. You can bet it won’t be selling in the souvenir shop at the Burrell Museum.'