John of John (Oprah's Book Club) by Stuart, Douglas

NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, LOS ANGELES TIMES, TIME, OPRAH DAILY, AND VOGUE

"So immersive, so all-encompassing, that I felt like I was living in it."--Ann Patchett

From the Booker Prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author of Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo comes a vivid, moving novel following a young man returning to his Hebridean island home, a portrait of a father's expectations and a son's desires

Out of money and with little to show for his art school education, John-Calum Macleod takes the ferry back home to the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides to find that little has changed except for him. He returns to the windswept croft and the two pillars of his childhood: his father John, a sheep farmer, tweed weaver, and lay preacher in the local Presbyterian church, and his maternal grandmother Ella, a profanity-loving Glaswegian whose steady warmth helped Cal weather the sudden departure of his mother.

Cal privately wonders if any lonely men might be found on the barren hillsides of home, while John is dismayed by his son's long hair, strange clothes, and seeming unwillingness to be Saved. But Cal isn't the only one in the croft house who is keeping secrets. As lambing season turns to shearing season, the threads holding together the community together become increasingly frayed, and nothing will remain as it was before.

John of John is a singular novel about duty, passion, and the transformative power of the truth. It is a magnificent literary work that cements Douglas Stuart's reputation as one of our greatest novelists working today.

Author: Douglas Stuart
Publisher: Grove Press
Published: 05/05/2026
Pages: 416
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.40w x 1.80d
ISBN: 9780802167194

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 01/15/2026
Library Journal 03/01/2026 pg. 99
Booklist 03/01/2026
Publishers Weekly 03/23/2026
Shelf Awareness 01/01/0001
Foreword 04/27/2026

About the Author

Douglas Stuart is a Scottish-American author. His New York Times bestselling debut novel Shuggie Bain won prizes including the 2020 Booker Prize and the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, was a finalist for the National Book Award and the PEN/Hemingway Award, and was named one of the "25 Best Books of the 21st Century" by the Sunday Times (UK). His second novel, Young Mungo, was a national bestseller, longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal and a finalist for the British Book Award, and one of the most highly acclaimed books of the year. His stories are published in The New Yorker and his essays have featured on Literary Hub. He lives in New York City.