Description

The Number One Sunday Times Bestseller

A Selection of Dua Lipa’s Service95 Bookclub

‘Beautiful and moving, a gay Romeo and Juliet set in the brutal world of Glasgow’s housing estates’ – The Observer

From the Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain. Douglas Stuart’s Young Mungo is a vivid portrayal of working-class life in 80s Glasgow, and the deeply moving story of the dangerous first love of two young men.

Born under different stars, Protestant Mungo and Catholic James live in a hyper-masculine world. They are caught between two of Glasgow’s housing estates, where young working-class men divide themselves along sectarian lines, and fight territorial battles for the sake of reputation.

They should be sworn enemies and yet, as they begin to fall in love, they dream of escape, and Mungo must work hard to hide his true self from all those around him . . .

A gripping and revealing story about the meaning of masculinity, the push and pull of family, the violence faced by so many queer people, and the dangers of loving someone too much.

Young Mungo was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 10/4/22

Publisher Review

Prepare your hearts, for Douglas Stuart is back. After the extraordinary success of Shuggie Bain, his second novel, Young Mungo, is another beautiful and moving book, a gay Romeo and Juliet set in the brutal world of Glasgow's housing estates. * Observer * 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 Some novels can be admired, others enjoyed. But it is a rare thing to find a story so engrossing, bittersweet and beautiful that you do not so much read it, as experience it. It is this quality Young Mungo possesses - an intense, lovely, brutal thing. Stuart is a masterful storyteller. -- Kiran Millwood Hargrave 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' *