Set against the backdrop of a still-depressed Leith and a regenerating Edinburgh, Back tae Auld Claes an’ Porridge chronicles three decades in the lives of a Scottish family. Through the eyes of its main character James, this Scottish coming-of-age story evokes daily life of Edinburgh folk in the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. In two captivating volumes, Jack Melrose tells the unique story of Janet and Ian Swanston as they pick up the pieces after six long years of war, bringing up their two bairns in a slum tenement.