John of John (Oprah’s Book Club): A Novel by Douglas Stuart

Oprah’s Book Club Pick • The Powerful New Novel from the Booker Prize-Winning Author of Shuggie Bain

In John of John, Douglas Stuart returns with a gripping, emotionally piercing story of identity, secrets, and the courage to live your truth.

Out of money and prospects after art school in Edinburgh, 22-year-old John-Calum Macleod (Cal) takes the ferry home to the remote, windswept Isle of Harris in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. Nothing has changed on the island — except him. He moves back into the croft house with his domineering father, John — a sheep farmer, tweed weaver, and strict Presbyterian deacon — and his warm but profane Glaswegian grandmother, Ella.

Cal is closeted and lonely, quietly searching for connection in a place where everyone knows everyone and secrets rarely stay hidden. His father is dismayed by Cal’s long hair, his “strange” ways, and his seeming unwillingness to be “Saved.” But Cal isn’t the only one in the house keeping painful truths buried. As lambing season turns to shearing season, long-simmering tensions rise to the surface — and nothing in this tight-knit community will ever be the same.

Tender, unflinching, and beautifully written, John of John explores duty, passion, belonging, and the transformative power of love in a world that can be hostile and judgmental. Oprah Winfrey calls it “a complex and compelling story” that shows “the power of love.”