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Learn more#1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE GLOBE AND MAIL • NPR • KIRKUS REVIEWS • TIME • AMAZON • THE WASHINGTON POST • THE TIMES (UK) • DAILY HIVE • THE TELEGRAPH • FINANCIAL TIMES • THE GUARDIAN • LITERARY HUB • THE HERALD (UK) • READER’S DIGEST • VANITY FAIR • LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS
"Young Mungo seals it: Douglas Stuart is a genius." —The Washington Post
From the Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain, Young Mungo is both a vivid portrayal of working-class life and the deeply moving story of the dangerous first love of two young men.
Born under different stars, Protestant Mungo and Catholic James live in a hyper-masculine world. They are caught between two of Glasgow’s housing estates where young working-class men divide themselves along sectarian lines, and fight territorial battles for the sake of reputation. They should be sworn enemies if they’re to be seen as men at all, and yet they become best friends as they find a sanctuary in the dovecote that James has built for his prize racing pigeons. As they begin to fall in love, they dream of escaping the grey city, and Mungo must work hard to hide his true self from all those around him, especially from his elder brother Hamish, a local gang leader with a brutal reputation to uphold.
But the threat of discovery is constant and the punishment unspeakable. When Mungo’s mother sends him on a fishing trip to a loch in Western Scotland, with two strange men behind whose drunken banter lie murky pasts, he needs to summon all his inner strength and courage to get back to a place of safety, a place where he and James might still have a future.
Imbuing the everyday world of its characters with rich lyricism, Douglas Stuart’s Young Mungo is a gripping and revealing story about the meaning of masculinity, the push and pull of family, the violence faced by so many queer people, and the dangers of loving someone too much.
DOUGLAS STUART is a Scottish-American author. His New York Times-bestselling debut novel Shuggie Bain won the 2020 Booker Prize and the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. It was the winner of two British Book Awards, including Book of the Year, and was a finalist for the National Book Award, PEN/Hemingway Award, National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, Kirkus Prize, as well as several other literary awards. Stuart’s writing has appeared in the New Yorker and Literary Hub.
Reviews
#1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERNamed a Best Book of the Year So Far by Time, Oprah Daily, and Vogue
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by the New York Times, Time, Vogue, San Francisco Chronicle, Guardian, Entertainment Weekly, Irish Times, Kirkus Reviews, and Literary Hub
“Astonishing. . . . Stuart’s writing is stellar. . . . [T]he reader comes to cherish the characters their creator has brought to life. It’s a sucker punch to the heart.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“[Douglas Stuart] creates characters so vivid, dilemmas so heart-rending, and dialogue so brilliant that the whole thing sucks you in like a vacuum cleaner. . . . Romantic, terrifying, brutal, tender, and, in the end, sneakily hopeful. What a writer.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Beautifully written. . . . Stuart creates a world we can almost feel.” —Toronto Star
“Prepare your hearts, for Douglas Stuart is back. After the extraordinary success of Shuggie Bain, his second novel, Young Mungo . . . is another beautiful and moving book, a gay Romeo and Juliet set in the brutal world of Glasgow’s housing estates.” —The Observer
“[O]pen and ambitious. . . . [T]his is a book that sucks you into its darkness and makes you feel its profound, beating heart.” —Vogue
“A blazing marvel of storytelling. . . . From political hostilities to personal anguish, Stuart harmonizes his notes, pitch-perfect. . . . Young Mungo is as affecting, original, and brilliantly written a novel as any we’ll see in 2022.” —Oprah Daily
“[A] bear hug of a new novel. . . . Mungo is alive. There is feeling under every word. . . . This novel cuts you and then bandages you back up.” —Los Angeles Times
“The crafted storylines in Young Mungo develop with purpose and converge explosively, couching all the horror and pathos within a tighter, more gripping reading experience—an impressive advancement, in other words, from an already accomplished author.” —Wall Street Journal Expand reviews