Shuggie Bain

For his novel "Shuggie Bain," Douglas Stuart was awarded the Booker Prize in 2020. "The best debut I have read in recent years." (Karl Ove Knausgård) "You will not forget this book." (Stefanie de Velasco)

Shuggie is different, delicate, imaginative, and feminine, all set against the backdrop of the bleakness and poverty of a working-class family in 1980s Glasgow, with a father who prioritizes virile potency above all else. Shuggie's heart belongs to his mother, Agnes, who understands him and fiercely counters the gray world with her beauty, displaying poise with flawless makeup, radiant white dentures, and glamorous clothing—yet she increasingly seeks solace in alcohol. Saving her is Shuggie's mission, a task he fulfills with absolute dedication and unwavering love year after year, until he ultimately must fail. A great novel about the misery of poverty and the persistence of love, deeply sad yet profoundly tender.