Boy A

(Paperback)

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Description

'A is for Apple. A bad apple.


Jack has spent most of his life in juvenile institutions, to be released with a new name, new job, new life. At 24, he is utterly innocent of the world, yet guilty of a monstrous childhood crime.


To his new friends, he is a good guy with occasional flashes of unexpected violence. To his new girlfriend, he is strangely inexperienced and unreachable. To his case worker, he s a victim of the system and of media-driven hysteria. And to himself, Jack is on permanent trial: can he really start from scratch, forget the past, become someone else Is a new name enough Can Jack ever truly connect with his new friends while hiding a monstrous secret


This searing and heartfelt novel is a devastating indictment of society's inability to reconcile childhood innocence with reality.

Reviews

Creepy and involving... From the beginning, Trigell weaves a sense of drama and a disturbing feeling of inevitability * Independent *
Trigell brilliantly depicts the pressures of living with a terrible secret... written with a naive clarity which evokes the unfamiliar wonders of the outside world * Guardian *
A challenging novel of atrocity and redemption... [A] fast-paced, thought provoking read, perhaps all the more significant for the questions it can't answer * Big Issue *

Author Bio

Jonathan Trigell was born in 1974 and has lived in Hertfordshire, Manchester, Derby and Stone. In 2002 he completed an MA in creative writing at Manchester University. He has been a TV extra, an outdoor pursuits instructor and a door to door salesman; plus has worked right across the winter sports industry, from mopping floors and washing dishes to journalism and organising major events. His first novel, Boy A, won the prestigious John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for best work by an author under 35, and also the Waverton Award, for best first novel of 2004. Jonathan now lives in Chamonix, where he is writing his third novel, Genesis.