May 5, 2026, 12:56 p.m. ET
Oprah Winfrey’s latest book club pick is a new novel from a beloved literary voice.
Winfrey chose “John of John” by Douglas Stuart, the National Book Award-nominated author of “Shuggie Bain” and “Young Mungo.” “John of John” traces a complex father-son relationship against the backdrop of a small textile and farming town on a northern Scottish isle.
“I felt transported,” Winfrey said in a statement. “I could feel every aspect of this remote community where tradition and judgment quietly shaped everyone’s life. Douglas Stuart brilliantly weaved a layered, compelling and yet so intimate a story of identity, what it means to belong, and the courage to claim your own truth.”
Oprah’s Book Club pick for May: ‘John of John’ by Douglas Stuart
“John of John,” one of USA TODAY’s most anticipated books of 2026, follows a young, broke graduate as he returns from art school to his hometown. John-Calum Macleod must weather the disappointed eye of his sheep farmer and devoutly religious father, who is distressed by how his son has changed and grown into himself in college.
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Winfrey calls the novel a “complex and compelling tale that ultimately showcases the transformational power of love in a hostile and judgmental world.”
Stuart pulls from his own background as a fashion designer to create the textile community and art student protagonist in “John of John.” This novel continues to explore the parent-child dynamics Stuart dug into in “Shuggie Bain” and “Young Mungo.” His books often interrogate how expectations in small, conservative hometowns can be at odds with his protagonists’ gender and sexuality.
“The phone call from Oprah telling me she loved my book and wanted to share it with her book club will always be one of the greatest, and most surreal, calls of my life,” Stuart wrote in a statement. “What an incredible honor. I grew up in a home without books but we always loved stories and storytelling. Oprah’s was the first book club I saw on television, the first to say that books are for everyone and that everyone is welcome. For three decades she has been bringing writers and readers together and I can’t express how thrilling and humbling it is to become a small part of that legacy.”
Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY’s Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you’re reading at cmulroy@usatoday.com.
