The Two Roberts

Meet Robert MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun: artists, lovers, outsiders. From 1930s Glasgow to wartime London, The Two Roberts is a captivating novel inspired by their wild lives

SHORTLISTED FOR THE NERO BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION 2025SHORTLISTED FOR THE EDWARD STANFORD TRAVEL WRITING AWARD FOR FICTION 2026SHORTLISTED FOR THE WINSTON GRAHAM PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2026LONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2026A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICKA BEST FICTION BOOK OF 2025 FOR THE GUARDIAN, THE OBSERVER, THE HERALD AND THE BBC'Crackles with creative rebellion' DOUGLAS STUART'immensely sensual' ELIF SHAFAK'A novel that brims over with generosity and warmth' OBSERVERHe will stay like this forever, Robert's arm draped round him. They will be forever twenty. Scotland, 1933. Bobby MacBryde is off to the Glasgow School of Art, to his future. On his first day he will meet another Robert, a quiet man with loose dark curls - and never leave his side. With the world on the brink of war, their unrivalled talent takes them all over Europe, partying, loving, fighting, painting. In Soho, they become stars as the bombs fall. Based on a true story, The Two Roberts is a stunningly imagined tale of devotion and obsession, art and class. It's a love letter to two almost-forgotten artists who fought to change the way the world sees - and paid a devastating price.