If non-fiction examines incels from a safe distance, observing them as one might bacteria under a microscope, then McQueer takes the bold decision to get under the skin of one – not to moralise or condemn, but simply to witness life through his lens.
The aforementioned Jamie Skelton, 19, is the protagonist of Hermit, the debut novel from 34-year-old Scottish writer Chris McQueer, which fellow Scottish writer John Niven has called “an utter triumph, far and away the best debut I've read in a very long time”.
The Oxford English dictionary defines an incel as a man who is involuntarily celibate: “a member of an online community of young men who consider themselves unable to attract women sexually” and who “are typically associated with views that are hostile towards women”.
In pursuit of companionship, Jamie begins to research incels – this potential band of brothers to whom he is somehow connected, and in whose company he might find comfort.
“I wished I could be like the people I’d see at school who seemed to be pals with everybody,” Jamie says.
