Addicted to love? Renton, Spud, Sick Boy and Begbie back for Trainspotting sequel

'My books tend to be a bit dark and twisted, but I wanted to show the beauty of love and romance' Irvine Welsh on Men in Love

- Ella Creamer

It has been just over 30 years since readers first encountered Trainspotting's Mark Renton searching for his heroin in an overflowing toilet, and almost as many since Danny Boyle's film adaptation of the scene was seared into the minds of a generation.

Now Irvine Welsh is continuing the life stories of his iconic characters in a sequel to the 1993 cult classic. Men in Love will follow Renton, Spud, Sick Boy and Begbie as they try to leave heroin behind and pursue romance.

"I'm really, really excited about bringing these characters back," said Welsh.

The novel, due to be published in July, focuses on a transitional period for the characters now in their mid-20s - an "interesting time in the lives of men" - who begin to become "serious about the quest for romance".

In your mid- to late-20s, you also "start to believe in your own mortality for the first time", said Welsh.