John of John (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel

AN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK • Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2026 by The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, TIME, Oprah Daily, and Vogue

“Douglas Stuart brilliantly weaved a layered, compelling and yet so intimate a story of identity, what it means to belong, and the courage to claim your own truth.”—Oprah Winfrey

“One of 2026's literary triumphs.”—Boston Globe

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.

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.

Praise for John of John:

AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICK
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A New Yorker Best Book of 2026 So Far
A New York Times Book Club Pick
An Audacious Book Club Pick
Finalist for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction
A May 2026 IndieNext pick
A May 2026 Library Reads pick
Instant National Bestseller in Canada
A People Best Book of May 2026
A Barnes & Noble Best Book of 2026 So Far
A Vogue Best Book of 2026
An Amazon Best Book of 2026 So Far
A Spotify Best Fiction Book of the Year So Far
An Apple Best Book of the Year So Far

"Powerful and surprising . . . [A] moving, suspenseful, completely-worth-your-time new novel . . . John of John is a stick of dynamite waiting to go off in your hand, the steadily intensifying story of a fractured trio . . . Stuart is not just a very good writer but an immensely skilled storyteller . . . one of the many pleasures of John of John—a title that eventually blossoms to reveal about five different meanings, all interesting—is that Stuart doesn’t let on until the very end whether he is writing toward hope or toward tragedy. Until he reveals the answer, he wants you to stay in the room with these difficult people, to try to puzzle them out, to watch them wage impossible struggles, and to wish them well."—Mark Harris, The New York Times Book Review

“[A] beautiful novel about duty, faith and the isolation of keeping secrets from the people closest to you.”—NPR

"A muscular narrative with scrupulous technique. It’s his finest work yet . . . Stuart’s prose is gorgeous and his plotting strategic; nothing is lost . . . John of John is one of 2026’s literary triumphs; Stuart ups his game with fluency and confidence, all the more gratifying given his working-class background—no nepo baby, he. As he observes of John Macleod’s liturgies: 'When he read the Gaelic scripture, the damning words always transformed into something lyrical, beautiful, incantatory.' The same can be said of this generational talent."—Hamilton Cain, The Boston Globe

“Douglas Stuart brilliantly weaved a layered, compelling and yet so intimate a story of identity, what it means to belong, and the courage to claim your own truth.”—Oprah Winfrey

“The novel feels like a textured and affecting response to an early question posed to Cal: ‘Who do you belong to?’”—New York Magazine, “8 New Books to Read This May”

“Both a dissection of a troubled family and a eulogy for dying folkways in the Hebrides islands.”—Time

“I love this book so much.”—Alan Cumming, Interview

“An autodidact novelist’s new book is his best work to date . . . A sprawling, emotionally rich saga that extends Stuart’s investigation into masculinity while sketching a world in which his gay characters come fully, finally alive. It’s his best yet.”—Vulture

“From the mega-talent who gave us Booker winner Shuggie Bain, this striking queer coming-of-age story is set in a Scottish village of sheep farmers and weavers. Home from art school to help his