Young Mungo

Selected as one of The Oprah Daily's Best Books of 2022From Booker-prizewinner Douglas Stuart an extraordinary, page-turning second novel, a vivid portrayal of working-class life and a highly suspenseful story of the dangerous first love of two young men: Mungo and James.Born under different stars, Protestant Mungo and Catholic James live in the hyper-masculine and violently sectarian world of Glasgow's housing estates. They should be sworn enemies if they're to be seen as men at all, and yet they become best friends as they find a sanctuary in the pigeon dovecote that James has built for his prize racing birds. As they find themselves falling in love, they dream of escaping the grey city, and Mungo works especially hard to hide his true self from all those around him, especially from his elder brother Hamish, a local gang leader with a brutal reputation to uphold.But the threat of discovery is constant and the punishment unspeakable. When 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 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 literary fiction, Douglas Stuart's Young Mungo is a gripping and revealing story about the bounds of masculinity, the push and pull of family, the violence faced by so many queer people, and the dangers of loving someone too much.SHORTLISTED FOR THE ABIA INTERNATIONAL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023PRAISE FOR YOUNG MUNGO'I wasn't sure Young Mungo could live up to Shuggie Bain, but it surpasses it. Deeply harrowing but gently infused with hope & love. And so exquisitely written. It's a joy to watch, in real time, as Douglas Stuart takes his place as one of the greats of Scottish literature.' Nicola Sturgeon'Few novels are as gutsy and gut-wrenching as Young Mungo in its depiction of a teenage boy who finds love amid family dysfunction, community conflict and the truly terrible predations of adults. Vividly realised and emotionally intense, this scorching novel is an urgent addition to the new canon of unsung stories.' Bernardine Evaristo'I can honestly say that the second novel from the author of Shuggie Bain... surpassed my (high) expectations. Stuart makes you care deeply about all of his characters but none more than Mungo, Mo-Maw's beloved, "the softest, sweetest boy she had ever known".' - Bookseller, 'Fiction Book of the Month''Prepare your hearts, for Douglas Stuart is back... Another beautiful and moving book' -Observer'Again this author creates characters so vivid, dilemmas so heart-rending, and dialogue so brilliant that the whole thing sucks you in like a vacuum cleaner... Romantic, terrifying, brutal, tender, and, in the end, sneakily hopeful. What a writer.' - Kirkus Reviews'There are wonderful stories in publishing, but the story of Douglas Stuart is pure magic... With Young Mungo... more magic is all but guaranteed... The book is a literary wonder and a suspenseful page-turner.' - Publishers' Weekly

Short-listed for ABIA International Book of the Year 2023 (Australia)

“With Young Mungo , the follow-up to [Douglas Stuart's] 2020 Booker Prize-winning debut novel, Shuggie Bain , more magic is all but guaranteed . . .The book is a literary wonder and a suspenseful page-turner.”

A touching story of forbidden love pursued in the face of sectarian violence with a plot that unfolds with all the urgency and dread of teenage yearning The Times/The Sunday Times, ‘Books of the Year’
Stuart follows his Booker-winning Shuggie Bain with another tale of a Glasgow boy whose mother is an alcoholic. This time, however, it’s a love story, with Protestant-Catholic sectarian tensions in the background; Mungo and pigeon-fancier James are star-crossed lovers in a Jets and Sharks world. The tension of their romance is expertly sustained. The Daily Telegraph, ‘Books of the Year’
Again Douglas Stuart proves himself a wonderfully gifted writer . . . Young Mungo is the work of a true novelist. The Guardian
A dazzling modern masterpiece . . . a book of clear, honest, often dazzling intent and integrity Evening Standard
The profundity of Stuart’s exceptional writing comes, then, partly from his commitment to the truth that even amid deprivation, compassion persists. This is most fully and beautifully expressed in the relationship between Mungo and his fellow lonely adolescent Catholic James . . . It is no exaggeration to say that I read the final pages through floods of breathless tears. Independent
There are sentences here that gleam and shimmer, demanding to be read and reread for their beauty and their truth . . . I sobbed my way through Shuggie Bain and sobbed again as Young Mungo made its way towards an ending whose inevitability only serves to heighten its tragedy. The Observer
Stuart [is] a virtuoso describer with a more or less infinite supply of tender detail and elegant phrasing . . . Mungo’s predicament is piercing, and as the story draws to a close, a spectral beauty prevails. The Guardian
Captures a world of suffering and sectarian violence with writing of transcendent beauty Financial Times
A rich and affecting group portrait of loneliness. Every character . . . is horribly alone . . . Stuart’s book feels richly abundant. It spills over with colourful characters and even more colourful insults. And like a Dickens novel it has a moral vision that’s expansive and serious while being savagely funny. The Sunday Times
Young Mungo seals it: Douglas Stuart is a genius . . . [He] writes like an angel. The Washington Post
If you adored Shuggie Bain . . . Young Mungo will please you on every page. If you didn’t, what’s wrong with you? Los Angeles Times
Stuart writes beautifully, with marvelous attunement to the poetry in the unlovely and the mundane . . . The novel conveys an enveloping sense of place, in part through the wit and musicality of its dialogue. The New York Times

Douglas Stuart was born and raised in Glasgow. After graduating from the Royal College of Art, he moved to New York, where he began a career in fashion design. Shuggie Bain, his first novel, won the Booker Prize and both 'Debut of the Year' and 'Book of The Year' at the British Book Awards. It was also shortlisted for the US National Book Award for Fiction, among many other awards. His short stories have appeared in the New Yorker and his essay on gender, anxiety and class was published by Lit Hub. He divides his time between New York and Glasgow. Young Mungo is his second novel.

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