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Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by the New York Times, Time, Vogue, Guardian, Entertainment Weekly, Irish Times, Kirkus Reviews, and Literary Hub
A story of queer love and working-class families, Young Mungo is the brilliant second novel from the Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain
Douglas Stuart’s first novel Shuggie Bain, winner of the 2020 Booker Prize, is one of the most successful literary debuts of the century so far. Published or forthcoming in forty territories, it has sold more than one million copies worldwide. Now Stuart returns with Young Mungo, his extraordinary second novel. Both a page-turner and literary tour de force, it is a vivid portrayal of working-class life and a deeply moving and highly suspenseful story of the dangerous first love of two young men.
Growing up in a housing estate in Glasgow, Mungo and James are born under different stars—Mungo a Protestant and James a Catholic—and they should be sworn enemies if they’re to be seen as men at all. Yet against all odds, they become best friends as they find a sanctuary in the pigeon dovecote that James has built for his prize racing birds. As they fall in love, they dream of finding somewhere they belong, while Mungo works hard to hide his true self from all those around him, especially from his big brother Hamish, a local gang leader with a brutal reputation to uphold. And when several months later Mungo’s mother sends him on a fishing trip to a loch in Western Scotland with two strange men whose drunken banter belies murky pasts, he will need to summon all his inner strength and courage to try 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 and giving full voice to people rarely acknowledged in the literary world, Young Mungo is a gripping and revealing story about the bounds of masculinity, the divisions of sectarianism, the violence faced by many queer people, and the dangers of loving someone too much.
Author: Douglas Stuart
Hardback Published 5 April 2022 400 pages
Read and Recommended by Graeme:
"The cover image on this highly anticipated new novel by the 2020 Booker Prize Winner is a famous photograph by Wolfgang Tillmans of two gay men kissing in a London club. It’s bold and striking but somewhat deceptive as Mungo the main character is only 15-years-old. The cover leads you to anticipate a storyline about young gay men, not teens. However this is no Heartstopper romance! Readers should be prepared to re-enter the grim world of Shuggie Bain, back in working-class Glasgow on a housing estate with a mother who hits the bottle hard and occasionally vanishes leaving her children to fend for themselves. Although you could dismiss the book as ‘just more of the same’ keep in mind that the gay working-class experience is very seldom explored in fiction - the only other name that springs to mind is the French novelist Edouard Louis - and certainly not with such raw authenticity and literary finesse. The narrative of Young Mungo could be triggering for some readers - there is extreme violence, cruelty and homophobia and also a storyline involving a fishing trip which the reader just knows is not going to end happily. Yet this is balanced by another narrative strand which unfolds Mungo’s friendship with a slighter older neighbourhood boy James which begins to develop into something more. There are also frequent flashes of humour, joy and beauty which offset the grimmer moments. The writing is gloriously good and also conjures up images that will stay with you long after you close the book. As the novel builds to its conclusion, it appears to be heading towards some ghastly tragedy, yet Douglas Stewart brings the various narrative strands together in an extremely satisfying way, leaving the reader with hope and perhaps a tear or two in their eyes."
“Young Mungo seals it: Douglas Stuart is a genius . . . A tale of romantic and sexual awakening punctuated by horrific violence. . . . The raw poetry of Stuart’s prose is perfect to catch the open spirit of this handsome boy . . . Stuart quickly proves himself an extraordinarily effective thriller writer. He’s capable of pulling the strings of suspense excruciatingly tight while still sensitively exploring the confused mind of this gentle adolescent trying to make sense of his sexuality . . . But even as Stuart draws these timelines together like a pair of scissors, he creates a little space for Mungo’s future, a little mercy for this buoyant young man.”—Ron Charles, Washington Post
“[A] bear hug of a new novel . . . It’s a classic Dickensian arc: The unwanted young lad, hoping for better things, is caught up in broader violent schemes and made to choose between the life he wants for himself and the one set out before him . . . But novelists have been flaccidly imitating the 19th century realists for so long that it’s a shock when one carries it out this successfully. Stuart oozes story. Mungo is alive. There is feeling under every word . . . This novel cuts you and then bandages you back up.”—Hillary Kelly, Los Angeles Times