What is this book about?
Douglas Stuart’s debut follows Shuggie, the youngest of three children, and his mother Agnes in working-class Glasgow during the 1980s. Agnes’s alcoholism is central to their family life, against the background of a city changed by industrial decline. The novel is written in English with dialogue in Scots.
Shuggie Bain won the 2020 Booker Prize and was a finalist for that year’s National Book Award for Fiction. Its focus on childhood, family relationships and addiction makes those subjects useful starting points for discussion.
Source: Shuggie Bain
Book-club discussion
Suggested questions based on the book’s premise and form.
- How does the Glasgow setting affect the family’s circumstances?
- How does the use of Scots in dialogue shape your experience of the characters?
Award recognition
Fiction| Year | Book / recipient | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Douglas Stuart | National Book Award for Fiction | finalistSource |
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