Scottish novelist Douglas Stuart on the isolation of secret-keeping

Douglas Stuart, author of the Booker Prize-winning *Shuggie Bain*, explores the intersection of faith, secrecy, and identity in his latest novel, *John of John*. Set in a conservative Hebridean community, the story follows a father and son who remain closeted to one another while navigating the stifling pressures of their environment. Stuart draws on his own upbringing in a working-class Glasgow neighborhood, where he faced the dual burdens of poverty and his mother’s addiction while grappling with the rigid, often toxic, expectations of masculinity. His transition from a long career in the fashion industry to literature provides a framework for reconciling these disparate parts of his life. By transforming his personal history of silence and shame into fiction, he creates a space to process the grief and isolation that defined his youth, ultimately finding liberation through honest storytelling.