Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago

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Known for his delicately crafted characters, transportative sense of place, and deeply moving stories of familial and first love, Douglas Stuart is one of our finest fiction writers. Here, he tells us about his new novel John of John, a tender, heartbreaking yet quietly hopeful story of home, family and expectations, which will transport you to the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides.

Here, Douglas discusses:
What drew him to set John of John in the Outer Hebrides.
Tenderness as a form of rebellion in his work.
What he looks for in a great novel.
What fans of his previous books Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo may recognise in John of John, and what might surprise them.
Growing up feeling like literature wasn’t ‘for the likes’ of him, and why this changed.

Timestamps:
The Setting of The Outer Hebrides - 00:00
Tenderness as Rebellion - 01:40
What Makes a Great Literary Fiction Novel? - 02:25
Surprising Fans of Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo - 03:17
Coming to Books Later in Life - 04:19

Buy John of John (ISBN:9781035086955): panmacmillan.com/authors/douglas-stuart/john-of-john/9781035086955

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