HOME BOYS
Alex Wheatle (Arcadia)
Inspired by personal experiences, Alex Wheatle has put together a brutal account of life under the control of social services in the 1970s. Born in Brixton, Wheatle spent the majority of his childhood in a Surrey care home. Home Boys is a brave story of four friends, brought together by the social stigma of living in care, who run away to escape the horror and abuse they suffer on a daily basis. But the initial feelings of excitement and freedom quickly turn as the woods itself presents its own power; what happens there will shape the rest of the boys’ lives.
The beauty of this book is presented in the boys’ youthful hijinx, as days away from their homes are spent playing cricket and football in the park and only going home when it gets dark. Being of similar age to Wheatle, I can identify with those halcyon ‘jumpers for goalposts’ days. But it is in stark contrast to the horror and abuse suffered by them at the hands of their carers – the sudden changes in the story can be quite jarring, as their adolescent innocence is replaced by resentment and anger.
This book is impossible to put down. A tale of camaraderie, survival and revenge, Home Boys is in parts a British equivalent of Stephen King’s classic Stand By Me, albeit with a more immediate and harrowing background. CHRIS ANDREWS
Price: £8.99 Info: www.arcadiabooks.co.uk