Lit in Translation

Shuggie Bain

Shuggie Bain

Douglas Stuart (born 1976)

English editions

Written in English

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Glasgow in 1981 is a city in decline, its men thrown out of work under Thatcher. Agnes Bain, who once expected far more from life, keeps up her looks and her pride while her taxi-driver husband cheats on her, then walks out. Left with three children in a bleak housing scheme, she spends the family's benefits on lager and lurches between binges and sobriety. Her two older children find ways to get clear of her, one after the other. Her youngest, Shuggie, a tender boy whom everyone sees as different, stays and tries to rescue her, while also struggling to pass as the ordinary boy he longs to be.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form
Novel
Genres
Family, Coming of age (assigned by AI)
Set in
United Kingdom, 1980s
First published
2020
Author's age
44 when first published
ISBN

9780802148049 (Grove Press, United States)

9781529019278 (Picador, United Kingdom)

9780802148506 (Grove Press, United States)

9781529019292 (Picador, United Kingdom)

More
Wikidata