PRE-ORDER: The Boyhood of Cain by Michael Amherst (HC)

A poignant debut novel about a boy on the precipice of adulthood, struggling to understand how he might give and deserve love.

Danny's family live in a large house close to the school where his father is headmaster. At school, his father's importance gives Danny certain privileges, but it also sets him apart from his classmates. When a new boy Philip, for whom everything seems easy, arrives, he surprises Danny by wanting to be friends. So when he and Philip are invited to work after school with inspiring, artistic teacher Mr. Miller, Danny believes he has found somewhere he can shine.

Until Danny's world tilts: his father loses his job, and their house. And then Danny finds himself shut out from Mr. Miller and Philip's world too. Desperate to make amends, he keeps trying to find a way back in, but will Danny's efforts send things spinning beyond everyone's control?

REVIEWS

"The Boyhood of Cain is a beautiful coming-of-age story told with subtlety and style. Amherst writes movingly about childhood, friendship, and the often conflicting internal struggles of a boy trying to find his place in the world." - Michael Magee

"A powerful, searing tale told by a boy facing the plenitude of life but hemmed in by a world so dull and ordinary that he can't wait either to flee it or be drowned in it." - André Aciman

"The Boyhood of Cain is a beautiful and profound novel about a boy's coming to consciousness as his family falls apart. Utterly compelling and quietly devastating, I read this book with my heart in my mouth and could not put it down." - Mary Costello

PRODUCT DETAILS
Hardcover
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 978-0571387595
Pages: 208