John of John, Bondi Literary Salon Book Club

Join the Bondi Literary Salon for our next book club. In our gathering, we will discuss John of John, the brand new novel from Booker Prize winning author, Douglas Stuart.

WHEN: Thursday, 2nd of July 2026, at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore; please arrive at 6.45pm for a prompt 7pm start.

TICKETS: Admission: $25.00 (excluding external fees). Your ticket includes a drink on arrival and nibbles during the evening.

From Douglas Stuart, Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo comes a stunning new novel, John of John.

The Book:

Out of money and with little to show for his art school education, John-Calum Macleod takes the ferry home to the island of Harris to find that little has changed except for him. In the windswept croft where he grew up, Cal resumes his old life, stuck between the two poles of his childhood: his father John, a sheep farmer, weaver, and pillar of their local Presbyterian church, and his Glaswegian grandmother Ella, who has kept a faltering peace with her son-in-law for decades.

Cal wonders if any lonely men might be found on the barren hillsides of home, John is dismayed by his son’s long hair and how he seems unwilling to be Saved. As lambing season turns to shearing season, everything is poised to change as the threads holding together the fragile community become increasingly entangled.

The Author:

Douglas Stuart was born and raised in Glasgow. After graduating from the Royal College of Art, he moved to New York, where he began a career in fashion design. Shuggie Bain, his first novel, won the Booker Prize and both 'Debut of the Year' and 'Book of the Year' at the British Book Awards. It was also shortlisted for the US National Book Award for Fiction, among many other awards. His second novel, Young Mungo, was a number one Sunday Times Bestseller. His short stories have appeared in The New Yorker and his essay on gender, anxiety and class was published by Lit Hub.

The Host:

Steven Reynolds’ reading life has always been eclectic. As a child, he devoured science fiction, with Ray Bradbury a particular favourite. He studied English and Australian Literature at the University of Sydney, where he was fortunate enough to spend a semester on Patrick White. Today his shelves span everything from David Mitchell and A.S. Byatt to Sophie Kinsella and Stephen King. He has a special affection for contemporary Australian fiction, and recently added to it himself with The Watervale Ladies’ Writing & Firefighting Society, co-authored with his best friend, Viktoriya Butler, under the pen name Mette Menzies.

John of John is a vivid, moving, and beautifully crafted novel following a young man returning to his Hebridean island home, a portrait of a close-knit community and a fraying family, of a father’s expectations and a son’s desires.

About The Bondi Literary Salon

Bondi Literary Salon was established in 2018, it is the in-house book club of beloved Bondi institution, Gertrude & Alice. The group endeavours to explore the vast world of literature each month, with a selection that reflects a focus on diverse writers and stories; delving into both classic and contemporary fiction, as well as non-fiction. 

Our philosophy has always been to use language and literature not only as a tool for connection and community, but as an insight into worlds we have not had the pleasure of visiting ourselves. We welcome all - young and old, those with a life-long love of literature, or whose relationship may be only beginning. Join us in the unmatched comfort of an after-hours bookstore, accompanied by wine and cheese, for an evening spent discussing books and building community.

About Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore:

Rated as one of the top 10 bookstores in the world by National Geographic, Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore is an oasis for writers, readers, and coffee lovers. Books overflow from the shelves of their store, featuring a mix of new, second-hand, antiquarian and rare books. Stay a while & enjoy some home made chai, and amazing coffee, and unearth a book treasure or two. Read more about the bookstore's story here, and about the real Gertrude & Alice here.