I’m not sure why, but I had low expectations of this book when I began it. However, I was pleasantly surprised! This debut book by New Zealand author Hugh Brown is a solid first offering. Focused around teenage lad, Will Clark, this book is sensitively told and a deserving winner of the inaugural Tessa Duder Award for Young Adult Fiction.
I’m liking
Will Clark is a thoroughly likable protagonist and so are most of the rest of the characters. No one is too perfect; no one is too flawed and the story unfolds with style and grace. The relationship between Will and his grandparents is warm and endearing and I loved the way that our initial impressions of Will’s father are challenged later in the book.
Things that made me go hmmmm
During the book, Will meets up with his mother, who he hasn’t seen for 5 year. I understand that this meeting helps Will resolve many of the issues that he has had over the years but she was the one character for whom I could not feel any affection. This section of the book was the one that seems most contrived to me.
The conclusion
A solid first offering from Brown. It’s very readable and it’s nice to find good fiction that might appeal to teenage lads.
