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‘If you like Shuggie Bain, then Slum Boy is for you’ LEMN SISSAY
‘A heart-breaking, inspiring read’ ALAN CUMMING
‘The best book we have ever read’ GILBERT & GEORGE

John MacDonald is a four-year-old boy growing up in the slums of Glasgow. His mother is an addict, who leaves him starving in their flat for days at a time.

When a neighbour files a report, John is wrenched away from her and placed into the care system. There, he has experiences he’s too young to understand which his eventual adoptive parents silence as he grows into a gay man within the Romani community.

But John dreams of being reunited with his mother and will stop at nothing to find her. Slum Boy is about
how, against all odds, John found a way to his mother and true identity, Juano Diaz.

‘Remarkable’ TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
‘Beautiful. I hope it finds a million readers’ ANDREW O’HAGAN
‘Compulsively readable’ PATRICK GALE

In 2024, Juano Diaz was awarded the Pride Awards for LGBTQ+ Heroes Changing the World.