Shuggie Bain: Winner of the Booker Prize 2020

Shuggie Bain is a heart-wrenching and powerful debut novel that explores the ruthlessness of poverty, the limits of love, and the hollowness of pride in 1980s Glasgow.

Agnes Bain, a mother struggling with addiction, is abandoned by her philandering husband and left to raise her three children alone.

As she descends deeper into drink, her son Shuggie holds out hope that he can save her and escape their hopeless situation. With a keen eye for detail and a deep empathy for its characters, Douglas Stuart's novel is a masterful portrayal of the human condition.

It is a counterpart to Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty, recalling the work of Édouard Louis, Frank McCourt, and Hanya Yanagihara.

Shuggie Bain is a must-read for anyone who has ever known the pain of poverty, the power of love, or the struggle to find hope in a seemingly hopeless world.