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From the bestselling author of A PLACE CALLED WINTER comes a compassionate, compelling new novel of boyhood, coming of age, and the confusions of desire and reality.
'It's delicious, it's dear, it's heart-breaking and very funny' Rachel Joyce
'An incredibly beautiful story told with compassion. Nothing is wasted. Each sentence is beautifully crafted' Joanna Cannon
1970s Weston-Super-Mare and ten-year-old oddball Eustace, an only child, has life transformed by his mother's quixotic decision to sign him up for cello lessons. Music-making brings release for a boy who is discovering he is an emotional volcano. He laps up lessons from his young teacher, not noticing how her brand of glamour is casting a damaging spell over his frustrated and controlling mother.
When he is enrolled in holiday courses in the Scottish borders, lessons in love, rejection and humility are added to daily practice.
Drawing in part on his own boyhood, Patrick Gale's new novel explores a collision between childish hero worship and extremely messy adult love lives.
Genre: Literary Fiction
'It's delicious, it's dear, it's heart-breaking and very funny' Rachel Joyce
'An incredibly beautiful story told with compassion. Nothing is wasted. Each sentence is beautifully crafted' Joanna Cannon
1970s Weston-Super-Mare and ten-year-old oddball Eustace, an only child, has life transformed by his mother's quixotic decision to sign him up for cello lessons. Music-making brings release for a boy who is discovering he is an emotional volcano. He laps up lessons from his young teacher, not noticing how her brand of glamour is casting a damaging spell over his frustrated and controlling mother.
When he is enrolled in holiday courses in the Scottish borders, lessons in love, rejection and humility are added to daily practice.
Drawing in part on his own boyhood, Patrick Gale's new novel explores a collision between childish hero worship and extremely messy adult love lives.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Safe in the arms of Patrick Gale's BEAUTIFUL writing again - I could weep with joy." - Joanna Cannon
"Absolutely one of his complete best. So many funny and tender and terrific scenes. He hovers between social comedy and apocalyptic tragedy without the move appearing artificial or contrived. Just a wonderful, wonderful read." - Stephen Fry
"Very well done indeed - brilliantly sustained." - Rachel Johnson
"A fascinating story, gripping, moving and exquisitely written, this is a wonderful gift of a book from one of the best writers working today." - S J Watson
"Sexy, joyous, funny and tender. I relished it." - Sarah Winman
"Absolutely one of his complete best. So many funny and tender and terrific scenes. He hovers between social comedy and apocalyptic tragedy without the move appearing artificial or contrived. Just a wonderful, wonderful read." - Stephen Fry
"Very well done indeed - brilliantly sustained." - Rachel Johnson
"A fascinating story, gripping, moving and exquisitely written, this is a wonderful gift of a book from one of the best writers working today." - S J Watson
"Sexy, joyous, funny and tender. I relished it." - Sarah Winman
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