Making of a Good Man

This is a simple story of a young man, Alex, born under poor circumstances in a deprived area of Glasgow. Alex is conceived during a one-day romantic encounter of his mother with an American serviceman during World War II. He is placed in an orphanage where, without the support of a loving family, he becomes sullen and hostile. When he leaves school he gathers a gang around him, which engages in increasingly more violent and criminal activities: he becomes a thoroughly bad man. He is forced to move on from place-to-place: first to Gourock on the west coast, then down to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and then to Singapore, where he enjoys life and becomes interested in Chinese language and culture. Since leaving Glasgow he has steadily been losing his earlier callous ways, but occasionally he regresses: he is forced to move on yet again, this time to Hong Kong. He meets a young woman in ill health in Hong Kong and gently establishes a loving relationship with her. However, when the young woman dies he is distressed and cannot bear to stay in Hong Kong any longer. He returns to Scotland, a different man from when he left: indeed, he is now a good man. The novel contains much detail about China, Singapore and Hong Kong, and of the kind, friendly and helpful nature of the Chinese.