Novel of the Week: A crushing secret
The challenge for Cal is that he is gay, while the close-knit, Gaelic-speaking local community – of which his father is a leading member – revolves around the extreme Presbyterianism of the Free Kirk.
SET IN THE 1990S, Douglas Stuart’s earthy novel begins with a homecoming. Twenty-two-year-old Cal Macleod is a textile designer who has graduated top of his year but is unable to find employment. After sleeping on friends’ sofas and stealing their food to get by, he finally admits defeat and returns to the island of Harris. Waiting for him in their crumbling home are his father John, a shepherd and weaver, and his feisty, foul-mouthed grandmother Ella.
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