Divided City
Page 17
Joe stared off into space. Graham risked a quick glance at their coach. Jack Burns didn’t seem to be looking at them in particular.
‘So I want you to shake one another by the hand because you are a team. Put all personal differences aside. You are a city team. From all parts of the city.’
Graham and Joe looked at each other.
‘I’m asking you,’ said Jack Burns. ‘I’m not begging you. I’m asking you as young men to behave like grown men . . . in some cases better than grown men.’
Jack went down the line and shook each player by the hand. The team shuffled around and shook each other’s hands. Graham shoved his hand at Joe, and Joe shook it quickly.
Jack Burns stood looking at them. ‘We know what this city is, and what it does. And sometimes we pretend it’s not happening. Who’s to say that’s not the way to deal with it? Maybe we should ignore all the conflict and hope it goes away. If people don’t hear about certain things they won’t go seeking revenge and make matters worse. Or maybe we should all talk more openly. I don’t know. I’m a simple man. All I know is football. I’m here because I love football. You’re here because you love football. And I’m proud of our city. It is our city. Because we are the city. So let’s hear it for Glasgow City.
‘Glasgow City!’ he shouted at the top of his voice.
‘Glasgow City!’ his team shouted back.
‘Right, off you go. Play the game of your lives.’
From the dugout Jack Burns watched as the boys ran out onto the park.
‘You are Glasgow.’ He spoke under his breath. ‘You are Glasgow City.’
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank the very many people – with their very many opinions – who have helped her with this book.
About the Author
THERESA BRESLIN is an award-winning Scottish author whose work has appeared on television and radio.
Her first book, Simon’s Challenge, won the Young Book Trust’s Fidler Award for new writers and she was awarded the Carnegie Medal for Whispers in the Graveyard.
The Dream Master was shortlisted for the Children’s Book Award and Remembrance, a story of youth in World War One, was shortlisted for the South Lanarkshire, the Sheffield, and the North-East Book Awards.
She managed the BAFTA nominated Scottish Writers project and was awarded Honorary Membership of the Scottish Library Association for distinguished services to Children’s Literature and Librarianship.
www.theresabreslin.co.uk
Also by Theresa Breslin:
REMEMBRANCE
An epic tale of young lives altered by World War One
SASKIA’S JOURNEY
A haunting tale of self-discovery
For junior readers:
THE DREAM MASTER
Ancient Egypt intertwines with modern-day life
DREAM MASTER NIGHTMARE!
Viking invaders threaten!
DREAM MASTER GLADIATOR
An exciting adventure in ancient Pompeii
DREAM MASTER ARABIAN NIGHTS
An Arabian princess causes havoc!
www.theresabreslin.co.uk
Praise for Divided City:
‘Compulsive, contemporary novel’
The Bookseller
‘Football allegiances are tied up with other deep rooted prejudices and passions . . . the issues are presented in the thoughts and words of the two boys, and in dialogue – always fast and dramatic, sometimes heart-warmingly funny’
INIS
‘Theresa Breslin confronts Glasgow sectarian rivalries head on in this vivid and gripping tale’
Publishing News
‘This is a book with far-reaching appeal and universal themes that will encourage young readers to challenge bigotry’
Guardian
‘A tense, fast-moving narrative . . . Theresa Breslin does what few other writers could: she maintains a balance not merely cerebral but deeply felt, based on experience and understanding . . . an important book, not just for its gripping story but for its social and moral insights’
School Librarian
‘Breslin . . . is adroit both at convincingly inhabiting the minds of two football-mad teenagers and at deploying the game as metaphor’
Books for Keeps
‘A powerful novel to provoke, intrigue and inform’
Writeaway website
DIVIDED CITY
AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 446 45026 0
Published in Great Britain by RHCP Digital,
an imprint of Random House Children’s Publishers UK
A Penguin Random House Company
This ebook edition published 2011
Copyright © Theresa Breslin, 2005
First Published in Great Britain
Corgi Books 9780552551885 2006
The right of Theresa Breslin to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of songs included in this book, but in some cases this has not proved possible. The publishers would be grateful to be notified of any omissions and will be happy to make good such omissions in future printings.
Subsequent to the writing of this book, the painting of Christ of St John of the Cross by Salvador Dali has been relocated within the city of Glasgow.
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