CHAPTER 10

Summary

• The chapter is set in 1919, Glasgow. On Saturdays, Digby's mother takes him to the Gaiety for variety shows. His mother was once a performer but gave up her career upon becoming pregnant with Digby.
• Digby's father, Archie Kilgour, was also a performer. He was known for his disappearing acts and has probably fathered children in other towns. Digby has never met him.
• Digby's mother works at a factory named SINGER, which is a huge part of their lives. However, she becomes involved in planning a strike and eventually loses her job. This forces them to move in with Nana, Digby's unpleasant grandmother.
• Digby's mother becomes catatonic over the years, her once glamorous appearance fading. She refuses Digby’s attempts to leave school and work, insisting he secure a better future for himself.
• Digby manages to secure a scholarship at Carnegie College where he plans to study medicine. He returns home one day to find his mother hanging from a rafter in an apparent suicide.
• Digby is devastated and angry, struggling to come to terms with the loss of his mother. He tries to drown his sorrows in a pub but ends off getting into trouble.
• The chapter ends with Digby reading a news headline about Lindbergh flying across the Atlantic to America. His mother's suicide and this news take him down a spiral of thoughts.