Saturday, 21 November 2020

Booker Prize Winner 2020

The winner of the 2020 Booker Prize for fiction was announced in a wonderful online ceremony, awarding the £50,000 prize to debut novelist Douglas Stuart for Shuggie Bain. 

Set in Glasgow in the 1980s, Shuggie Bain is the story of a dysfunctional family growing up in poverty. Agnes Bain, a single mother trying to raise her children, is addicted by alcoholism. Her children leave the family home in an effort to survive, but her son Shuggie stays. This is the story of mother and child.

I am so thrilled that Douglas Stuart won this year's award. Scotland is deep in my heart and I love novels set there. I have been saving Shuggie Bain to read on my Christmas holidays so I will provide my review at that time.

In the meantime, here is a video of the Booker Prize judges talking about why they chose this novel to win this year.