Boy

A remarkable and beautiful novel of Africa

'But it is as if I have broken some chain. And a rich swelling outwards of pleasure comes with being alive. Is this a beginning? Can I take the risk?' So begins the adventures of Boy; young, inexperienced, frustrated by his parents and the cloistered life he has led. One morning, while coming to terms with the fact that he has failed his school exams, his mother sends him to get marijuana for a festival. What should have been a simple errand suddenly becomes a spectacular journey of self-discovery. Travelling through the lush Mauritian landscape, filled with gnarled old mango trees, endless sugar cane fields, magnificent sunsets, and eerie, mysterious meanings, Boy confronts the dangers and deceits of the adult world, and with it the possibilities and the terror of freedom. Touching and exuberant, this is a wonderful story of courage, love and friendship.