4.5 Stars
I was amazed by Douglas Stuart’s previous novels, Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo, which I found emotionally intense. This, his latest, is another masterpiece.
In the waning years of the twentieth century, twenty-two-year-old John-Calum (Cal) Macleod returns to the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides after completing his studies at a textile design school. He returns home with naught but his education and a lot of debt. He moves back into the croft in which he had grown up; living there are his father John and his maternal grandmother Ella. As a closeted gay man living in a small and ultra-conservative religious community, Cal is not happy, but he feels a sense of duty towards his family. Because he has few options, he tries to shape a life, but he is restless and there are constant conflicts with his father.
The three people living in the croft are all outsiders in some way. Cal, with his long hair and city clothes and his unwillingness to marry a local girl and continue the family legacy, is viewed with disapproval, and he knows he would never be accepted if his sexual orientation were known. John is a pillar of the church and community but he has a deep secret which, if uncovered, he knows would turn everyone against him. Ella is a permanent outsider; brought from Glasgow by her husband many years ago, she has never been fully accepted. Her foul mouth and her inability to speak Gaelic mean she is isolated.
Unfortunately, Cal and John don’t try to understand each other. Ella describes them fittingly: “’Islands within islands . . . within islands, within islands.’” There are so many secrets and so much is left unspoken that they are really like their neighbours, Innes and Sorley MacInnes, brothers who live in the same house but haven’t spoken to each other directly for sixteen years. In fact, both father and son are very similar. Both are full of anger, shame, and fear, and are lonely, with a longing to love and be loved. Both carry a burden of secrets; the publisher describes the novel as being “about the face we put out to the world, which may not be the person we truly are.” Both John and Cal are pressured by the remoteness of their home, their sense of duty to family, the expectations of a community tied to tradition, and their rigid Calvinist faith. The only difference is that John has experienced these pressures for twice as many years as Cal.
The characters are complex and deeply flawed but they are definitely believable. Sometimes they are selfish and sometimes generous. Cal tends to be self-centred but his gift to Isla, for instance, is so unselfish given what he could have done with it. John and Cal love each other, but John can be violent and Cal is not beyond behaving cruelly and hatefully. I did not always like the two and I found myself feeling frustrated with them, two men with, in Ella’s words, “’A shockin’ lack of self-expression.’” But it is impossible to forget that both are tortured, broken men. My heart breaks for both.
I found it interesting that women also have secrets, but they tend to keep them to protect others. Ella considers telling her grandson about the secret in her past, but she worries about the effect on Cal. Grace, Cal’s mother, left John years earlier and Cal feels she abandoned him as well. The truth is that Grace left for another reason which she never discusses; that secret might now redeem her in her son’s eyes but would have hurt Cal as a young boy.
Ella is actually my favourite character. She’s strong and fiercely independent. She can be manipulative, but in the end her machinations are intended to help people, though they may not see it that way. Even her son-in-law, with whom she has a difficult relationship, she wants to be happy. She tells Cal, “’Make yourself happy, son. Christ above, let one of us be happy.’”
This is a character-driven, not a plot-driven, novel. Slow-moving and reflective, it focuses on Cal’s perspective, but also presents the viewpoints of John, Ella, and Innes so we see their inner conflicts in depth. Nonetheless, there is suspense: secrets are gradually revealed and the reader can only wonder what will be uncovered next and what will be the ramifications. The descriptions of the environment create a strong sense of place. With its emotional intensity this book shares similarities with Stuart’s previous novels, but this one has less brutality and even touches of humour.
The novel ends on a note of hope, though much is left unknown. Insightful and well-written, Douglas Stuart’s books always provide an immersive experience which leaves the reader changed.
See my reviews of Stuart’s other books:
Shuggie Bain - https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/2020/10/review-of-shuggie-bain-by-douglas-stuart.html
Young Mungo - https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/2022/04/review-of-young-mungo-by-douglas-stuart.html
Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
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