When his fiance breaks off their engagement, Patrick Oxtoby leaves home and moves into a boarding house in a remote seaside town. But in spite of his hopes and determination to build a better life, nothing goes to plan and Patrick is soon driven to take a desperate and chilling course of action.

Ireland, 1971, John Egan is a misfit, 'a twelve year old in the body of a grown man with the voice of a giant who insists on the ridiculous truth'. With an obsession for the Guinness Book of Records and faith in his ability to detect when adults are lying, John remains hopeful despite the unfortunate cards life deals him.

Ireland, 1971, John Egan is a misfit, 'a twelve year old in the body of a grown man with the voice of a giant who insists on the ridiculous truth'. With an obsession for the Guinness Book of Records and faith in his ability to detect when adults are lying, John remains hopeful despite the unfortunate cards life deals him. During one year in John's life, from his voice breaking, through the breakin

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A powerful debut from a young Australian novelist that features one of the most likeable but contrary figures you are likely to meet in contemporary fiction Lou Connor, a gifted, unhappy sixteen-year-old, is desperate to escape her life of poverty in Sydney. And when she is offered a place as an exchange student at a school in America it seems as if her dreams will be fulfilled. Her host family ..

Lou Connor, a gifted, unhappy sixteen-year-old, is desperate to escape her life of poverty in Sydney. And when she is offered a place as an exchange student at a college in America it seems as if her dreams are going to be fulfilled.

John is a misfit, 'a twelve-year old in the body of a grown man with the voice of a giant'. With an obsession for the Guinness Book of Records and faith in his ability to detect when adults are lying, he remains hopeful despite the unfortunate cards life deals him. Set in the seventies Ireland, this book is a sympathetic take on one sad boyhood.