Multi-award-winning author Douglas Stuart speaks to Eve Jackson about the decade-long, rejection-filled journey to publish his magnificent debut novel "Shuggie Bain", which is now out in French. The book tells the heart-wrenching story of the love between Agnes Bain and her son Shuggie, as she sinks into alcoholism and he grapples with his sexuality. It's the story of a childhood marred by poverty, set in Scotland in the 1980s. "Shuggie Bain" took 10 years to write and was rejected by more than 30 publishers.
Douglas Stuart discusses the struggles of a young boy trying to keep his mother away from alcohol, growing up gay in a "hard man's world" and why fallen women are judged so harshly.
