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Plucked from obscurity in Glasgow, Rab Dillon is about to become the next great protest singer. Seduced by promises of stardom, carrying only the guitar given to him by the girl who broke his heart, he travels down to London. There he records the debut album that will speak to the dispossessed, the disenfranchised and disheartened.
One year later, he is sleeping rough on the streets of Brighton.
A modern-day ballad set across three cities and two years, The Busker is a richly comic exposé of the music industry, the Occupy movement, homelessness, squatting — and failing to live up to the name you (almost) share with your hero. It is also the story of what survives when the flimsy dreams of fame fall apart.
Liam Murray Bell is also the author of So It Is (Myriad, 2012).
‘Relevant, hard-hitting and certainly not lacking in grit… Bell’s prose is unflinching, masculine and readable.’ – DURA: Dundee University Review of the Arts
‘Bell continues the winning streak he started with 2012’s So It Is, with fine depictions of characters and locations.’ – Herald, Paperback of the Week
‘A disturbing and realistic portrayal of the music industry, homelessness and how life can go horribly wrong.’ – We Love This Book
‘The settings – from the grubby woodlands of Hyndland to the insidious coldness of Brighton’s beachfront – are very well observed.’ – The List
‘A tale for our times… The Busker leaves you with the hope that it ain’t over til it’s over.’ – Scots Whay Hae!
Liam Murray Bell was born in Orkney and brought up in Glasgow. After studying for a degree in English Literature with Creative Writing at Queen’s University Belfast, he returned to Scotland to undertake his Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow, before moving to the South of England to complete a PhD at the University of Surrey. Murray Bell now lives in Scotland with his wife and daughter and is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Stirling.
Having developed a fascination with the historical and political context of the Troubles during his time in Northern Ireland, Murray Bell spent several years researching the role of women in the conflict, a subject which informed the writing of his debut novel, So It Is (Myriad, 2012). His second novel, The Busker, was published by Myriad in 2014.
His work has been published in several critical and creative journals and anthologies, including New Writing Scotland and New Writing: the International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing. He is also co-editor of a book of essays entitled Writing Urban Space.