Janie Ryan is born into tough times. Her mother is barely an adult herself, still suffers the scars of her own mother's neglectful ways and, after a heated family argument, the Ryan girls find themselves homeless.
This starts a reoccurring theme in the sad tale of Janie Ryan's life. Her mother drags her from one home to another, from Scotland to London, either following a man or running away from an abusive one. By the time Janie is 14 she's lived in various houses, B&Bs and halfway houses. She's seen drug use, death, abuse; she drinks, takes drugs and has lost her virginity. The one place Janie finds solace is within the local library's walls, and her only escape is within the pages of the books it contains.
The debut novel from Scottish born Kerry Hudson, Tony Hogan is a coming-of-age story with an unlikely heroine struggling to break the cycle of depression and poverty that runs in her family. Sadly, no such change occurs; the continual struggles outweigh any positives so drastically it leaves the reader struggling to relate to the characters or hope for any resolution at all. This is especially true for Janie's mother, who returns to an abusive partner time and time again. With a tad more variation in emotion, this could have been a fabulous book.
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