Sign In Join Now
User Accessibility
  • Increase Font

  • Invert Colours

Search for a Book Browse Books Menu
Shuggie Bain Cover Play Sample

Sample may contain unsuitable content.

Stream / Download

Audiobook streaming provided by:

OverDrive Logo

Share this book:

Shuggie Bain

AuthorDouglas Stuart

NarratorAngus King

Duration17h 41m

CategoriesAdult Fiction, Novels

PublisherDreamscape Media

VersionUnabridged

  Save to Wish List
  Add to Favourites List

This is the unforgettable story of young Hugh "Shuggie" Bain, a sweet and lonely boy who spends his 1980s childhood in run-down public housing in Glasgow, Scotland. Thatcher's policies have put husbands and sons out of work, and the city's notorious drugs epidemic is waiting in the wings. Shuggie's mother Agnes walks a wayward path: she is Shuggie's guiding light but a burden for him and his siblings. She dreams of a house with its own front door while she flicks through the pages of the Freemans catalogue, ordering a little happiness on credit, anything to brighten up her grey life. Married to a philandering taxi-driver husband, Agnes keeps her pride by looking good-her beehive, make-up, and pearly-white false teeth offer a glamourous image of a Glaswegian Elizabeth Taylor. But under the surface, Agnes finds increasing solace in drink, and she drains away the lion's share of each week's benefits-all the family has to live on-on cans of extra-strong lager hidden in handbags and poured into tea mugs. Agnes's older children find their own ways to get a safe distance from their mother, abandoning Shuggie to care for her as she swings between alcoholic binges and sobriety. Meanwhile, Shuggie is struggling to somehow become the normal boy he desperately longs to be, but everyone has realized that he is "no right," a boy with a secret that all but him can see. Agnes is supportive of her son, but her addiction has the power to eclipse everyone close to her-even her beloved Shuggie. A heartbreaking story of addiction, sexuality, and love, Shuggie Bain is an epic portrayal of a working-class family that is rarely seen in fiction.

0 (0 Reviews)
0
0
0
0
0

Related Titles

Middlesex Cover

Middlesex

Author: Jeffrey Eugenides

Middlesex

Author Jeffrey Eugenides

Narrator Nathan Osgood

Duration 24h 17m

'I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.' So begins the breathtaking story of Calliope Stephanides and her truly unique family secret, born on the slopes of Mount Olympus and passed on through thr...

View Book
Everything I Never Told You Cover

Everything I Never Told You

Author: Celeste Ng

Everything I Never Told You

Author Celeste Ng

Narrator Cassandra Campbell

Duration 10h 8m

Lydia is the favourite child of Marilyn and James Lee; a girl who inherited her mother's bright blue eyes and her father's jet-black hair. When Lydia's body is found in the local lake, James is consumed by guilt, and Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to hold someone accountable. But it's the youngest in the family - Hannah - who may b...

View Book
Postscript Cover

Postscript

Author: Cecelia Ahern

Postscript

Author Cecelia Ahern

Narrator Amy Huberman

Duration 9h 52m

When Holly Kennedy is approached by a group calling themselves the PS, I Love You Club, her safe existence is turned on its head. Inspired by hearing about her late husband Gerry's letters, the club wants Holly to help them with their own parting messages for their loved ones to discover after they're gone. Holly is sure of one thing: no way is she...

View Book
Real Life Cover

Real Life

Author: Brandon Taylor

Real Life

Author Brandon Taylor

Narrator Kevin R. Free

Duration 9h 25m

Almost everything about Wallace is at odds with the Midwestern university town where he is working uneasily toward a biochem degree. An introverted young man from Alabama, black and queer, he has left behind his family without escaping the long shadows of his childhood. For reasons of self-preservation, Wallace has enforced a wary distance even wit...

View Book
Queen Bee Cover

Queen Bee

Author: Jane Fallon

Queen Bee

Author Jane Fallon

Narrator Jo Joyner

Duration 10h 8m

Brought to you by Penguin. Welcome to The Close - a beautiful street of mansions, where gorgeous Stella is the indisputable Queen Bee . . . It is here that Laura, seeking peace and privacy after her marriage falls apart, rents a tiny studio. Unfortunately, her arrival upsets suspicious Stella - who fears Laura has designs on her fianc‚, Al. W...

View Book
This Mournable Body Cover

This Mournable Body

Author: Tsitsi Dangarembga

This Mournable Body

Author Tsitsi Dangarembga

Narrator Adenrele Ojo

Duration 11h 32m

Anxious about her prospects after leaving a stagnant job, Tambudzai finds herself living in a run-down youth hostel in downtown Harare. For reasons that include her grim financial prospects and her age, she moves to a widow's boarding house and eventually finds work as a biology teacher. But at every turn in her attempt to make a life for herself,...

View Book
So Lucky Cover

So Lucky

Author: Dawn O'Porter

So Lucky

Author Dawn O'Porter

Narrator Dawn O'Porter

Duration 9h 19m

Is anyone's life.... Beth shows that women really can have it all. Ruby lives life by her own rules. And then there's Lauren, living the dream. As perfect as it looks? Beth hasn't had sex in a year. Ruby feels like she's failing. Lauren's happiness is fake news. And it just takes one shocking event to make the truth come tumbling out...

View Book
Rodham Cover

Rodham

Author: Curtis Sittenfield

Rodham

Author Curtis Sittenfield

Narrator Carrington Macduffie

Duration 13h 58m

'Awfully opinionated for a girl' is what they call Hillary as she grows up in her Chicago suburb. Smart, diligent, and a bit plain, that's the general consensus. Then Hillary goes to college, and her star rises. At Yale Law School, she continues to be a leader- and catches the eye of driven, handsome and charismatic Bill. But when he asks her to ma...

View Book
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill Cover

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

Author: Abbi Waxman

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

Author Abbi Waxman

Narrator Jessica Preddy

Duration 9h 28m

Nina has her life just as she wants it: a job in a bookstore, a kick-butt trivia team, a world-class planner and a cat named Phil. When the father Nina never knew existed suddenly dies, leaving behind innumerable sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews, Nina is horrified. They all live close by! They're excited to meet her! She'll have to Speak. To....

View Book
Summer At the Comfort Food Cafe Cover

Summer At the Comfort Food Cafe

Author: Debbie Johnson

Summer At the Comfort Food Cafe

Author Debbie Johnson

Narrator Dawn Murphy

Duration 9h 50m

The Comfort Food Cafe is perched on a windswept clifftop at what feels like the edge of the world, serving up the most delicious cream teas, beautifully baked breads and carefully crafted cupcakes. For tourists and locals alike, the ramshackle cafe overlooking the beach is a beacon of laughter, companionship and security - a place like no other, a...

View Book