GOD BOY, THE - Penguin Classics

'I'm a God boy, Sister,' I said. 'You don't have to worry about me, I'm a God Boy.'Jimmy Sullivan believed he was protected by God until his parents' unhappy marriage finally broke down, with tragic consequences. Now a disturbed thirteen-year-old at a Catholic boarding school, Jimmy rages at God for failing him as he tells of his own violent and obsessive reaction to the turbulent events of two years before. Through his uncomprehending and often humourous voice of tough indifference, a very adult drama emerges of marital strife, drunkness and illicit abortion. Ian Cross vividly evokes life in a provincial New Zealand town in the 1950s, in his tale of the crippling of a bright and hopeful young mind.