A Faifley writer says his new novel based on his schooldays in Clydebank in the 1970s captures “the last staging post of childhood".

Patrick George O’Kane has penned childhood tale Joining the Dots, a story which follows the antics of two 14-year-old boys who befriend each other in a Clydebank comprehensive school during the middle of the decade.

The book, starring characters Danny and Charlie, is loosely based on Patrick’s own experience growing up in the area, with Patrick being Danny and his best friend filling the role of the story’s other protagonist.

The real-life duo met at St Columba’s High School four decades ago and remain friends to this day, and Patrick admits the story – which he wrote during the second Covid lockdown - almost wrote itself, such was the mischief they used to get up to.

Speaking to the Post, he said: “I sat down and wrote the first chapter, which is called Join the Dots, and it almost wrote itself. It just flowed.

“And in about two to three weeks I’d done the whole thing. Once I’d done the first chapter, it led on to the next and a narrative came out of it.

“It was a narrative about friendship, a narrative about loyalty and betrayal, there was also a romantic element to it, it just seemed to take off.

“The two main characters Danny and Charlie, are still daft wee boys though, they still do silly, immature things.”

Patrick explains the ‘cocky, gallus’ traits of character Charlie are extremely similar to his real-life friend Charlie and revealed the book, set in S3 in an unnamed school in the novel, is a strange time in a young person's life.

“Looking back on it, it was a sort of magical but scary time in your life,” the novelist added.

“S3 is the last year in a person’s life before they have to start on the treadmill of public exams and all the pressure that brings.

“So, you are almost at the last staging post of childhood, but you have got one big toe in the world of adults.

“I wanted to capture that feeling of teenage excitement, how the world was opening up, girls, alcohol, body image, sport.”

Patrick, a retired English teacher who moved from Clydebank to Crieff in 1991, described his memories of his school days as ‘fond’ - but recalls corporal punishment in those days being a hard aspect of life.

He continued: “1970s St Columba’s High School, it was a tough place.

“There were bullies, there were teachers that belted frequently.

“But there is also a recognition that they were good teachers as well, inspirational even.

“It’s not a book that denigrates the education system.”

He added: “I was brought up in Faifley, and yeah, there were rough parts to Faifley, but there were a lot of good families there that looked after each other.

“Family was important.

“The two characters in the book, Charlie and Danny, have their friendship but they have their family in the background as well.

“So yeah, it was tough, but it was fair as well.”

The writer is already working on a sequel that will feature Danny and Charlie in S4 as he still has ‘plenty more tales to tell’ and is considering writing a book from their university days as well.

He concluded: “What has helped me in writing the book is that life is a struggle and it doesn’t go in straight lines.

“But if you can stand outside of it and observe it, with a big dollop of humour, it can be pretty uplifting at times as well.”