Shuggie Bain: Winner of the Booker Prize 2020

A heartbreaking novel, a book both beautiful and brutal . . . All that grief and sadness and misery has been turned into something tough, tender and beautifully sad. ― The Times

Leaves us gutted and marvelling: Life may be short, but it takes forever. ― New York Times

Rarely does a debut novel establish its world with such sure-footedness, and Stuart’s prose is lithe, lyrical and full of revelatory descriptive insights. -- Alex Preston ― Observer

An astonishing portrait, drawn from life, of a society left to die . . . Shuggie Bain has been longlisted for the Booker Prize. In a just world, it would win. ― Daily Telegraph

Shuggie Bain comes from a deep understanding of the relationship between a child and a substance-abusing parent, showing a world rarely portrayed in literary fiction . . . Admirable and important. -- Sarah Moss ― Guardian

This is a dysfunctional love story . . . between a boy and his mother . . . what makes his book a worthy contender for the Booker is his portrayal of their bond, together with all its perpetual damage. ― Financial Times

Douglas Stuart’s startling Glasgow-set debut novel creates a world of poverty and suffering offset by pure, heart-filling, love . . . It’s a novel that deserves, and will surely often get, a second reading. -- Allan Massie ― Scotsman

Shuggie Bain is a novel that aims for the heart and finds it. -- John Self ― The Times

Tender and unsentimental . . . and the Billy Elliot-ish character of Shuggie . . . leaps off the page. ― Daily Mail

Beautiful and bleak but with enough warmth and optimism to carry the reader through. -- Graham Norton