Scottish-American novelist Douglas Stuart’s third novel is a “tender and devastating story of love and religion, of a father and son, art and landscape” and is set for publication in 2026.
Booker-Prize winning author of Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo is set to release a new novel. Douglas Stuart’s next project is expected to be another tender and poignant powerhouse work, and was acquired by Picador to be released in 2026.
Titled John of John, the book is set in the Isle of Harris and is described as a “tender and devastating story” about love, religion, family secrets and sexuality. The story follows Cal Macleod, a young man returning home to his father, John, and grandmother in a small village in the Outer Hebrides at the end of the 90s.
A recent art school graduate, Cal is drawn home to the family croft under the pretence of caring for his ailing grandmother. But when Cal returns home, he quickly discovers that not everything is as his father made it out to be and is also drawn back “into a world of suppressed emotion and terrible secrecy”.
In the words of the novel’s author: “[John of John] is a story about looking for love. It’s a story about looking for self. But Cal has left behind many broken relationships when he left the island, and he’s got to come back and face them all.
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“And the family, although they’re living in this one small croft house, are all keeping some kind of secret from each other.” In this intense and intimate family portrait, Cal and John both keeping their sexuality secret threatens both their relationship and their own lives.
John of John is currently set to be published on May 21, 2026. At this time, you can pre-order a hardback copy from Waterstones for £20.
Stuart shared in a video for Waterstones: “I’m really excited. It’s my third novel, it’s my new novel, and I hope you enjoy meeting the Macleod family and everyone that comes into their life.”
Douglas Stuart is a Scottish-American author and has written two novels to date: Shuggie Bain (2020) and Young Mungo (2022). Both of Stuart’s previous two works have drawn on his troubled family upbringing and his experience being gay in a claustrophobic Glasgow community coloured by toxic masculinity and poverty.
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Stuart grew up on a housing estate in Glasgow and earned a master’s degree from the Royal College of Art before moving to New York City at 24 to work as a fashion designer. He wrote his debut novel Shuggie Bain while working 12-hour shifts as a senior director of design.
Based on Stuart’s childhood, Shuggie Bain is set in Glasgow in the 1980s and tells the story of a young boy growing up with a mother who is battling addiction. Stuart explores poverty, tough upbringings and alcoholism in his book. Shuggie Bain went on to receive widespread literary acclaim, winning the esteemed Booker Prize in 2020.
A24 picked up rights to adapt Shuggie Bain more than four years ago and the BBC greenlit the project in late 2022, but it is still seeking international finance, as reported by Deadline.
