Review | In ‘John of John’, Douglas Stuart unearths buried secrets and inherited shame

I am John of John of Iain of Iain the Breabadair,” says John ‘Cal’ Macleod to an old Scottish woman who asks about his “s loinntireachd” , his lineage. When we meet Cal at the start of the novel, he’s a newly-minted graduate in textile weaving, unemployed, mostly drunk, and living a closeted life. He learns from his father, John Senior, that his maternal grandmother Ella has feet that are “as purple as calf liver”. She is unwell, and Cal decides to return home.