The Boyhood of Cain: 'A new literary star is born . . . dazzling.' The Times
Feb 2025 · Faber & Faber
Ebook
256
Pages
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About this ebook
'Terrific.' Guardian
'A powerful, searing tale.' André Aciman
'I read this book with my heart in my mouth and could not put it down.' Mary Costello
'Amherst has created a young protagonist of extraordinary depth and complexity.' Nathan Filer
'A beautiful coming-of-age story.' Michael Magee
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?
Readers love The Boyhood of Cain
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Beautifully written study of childhood innocence into adolescence. Short but perfectly formed.'
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Emotional and very atmospheric.'
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'So evocative.'
⭐⭐⭐⭐'The book captures the delicate, almost ethereal atmosphere of English summers and schoolyard anxieties.'
⭐⭐⭐⭐'The insight into the mind of the boy is exceptional and the result is very moving.'
'A powerful, searing tale.' André Aciman
'I read this book with my heart in my mouth and could not put it down.' Mary Costello
'Amherst has created a young protagonist of extraordinary depth and complexity.' Nathan Filer
'A beautiful coming-of-age story.' Michael Magee
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?
Readers love The Boyhood of Cain
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Beautifully written study of childhood innocence into adolescence. Short but perfectly formed.'
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Emotional and very atmospheric.'
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'So evocative.'
⭐⭐⭐⭐'The book captures the delicate, almost ethereal atmosphere of English summers and schoolyard anxieties.'
⭐⭐⭐⭐'The insight into the mind of the boy is exceptional and the result is very moving.'
About the author
Michael Amherst has been published in the Guardian, New Statesman, the Spectator, The White Review and Contrappasso magazine. His book-length essay, Go the Way Your Blood Beats, won the 2019 Stonewall Nonfiction Prize. He is also the winner of the 2020 Hubert Butler Essay Prize and was shortlisted for the Observer/Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts. His short fiction has been longlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award and shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, and has featured at Stroud Short Stories, the inaugural London LitCrawl and the Accidental Festival at London's Roundhouse. The Boyhood of Cain is his first novel.
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