This boy’s life of deprivation

I remember feeling a little foolish, crying about a fictional horse, Black Beauty, but I had no qualms this time: these were tears of rage, because some children get such a poor deal in life, and have their hopes and talent snuffed out early by circumstances beyond their control.

The novel is written in Micka’s voice and that of his friend, Laurie, and both voices ring horribly true. Laurie, a new boy at Micka’s school, is a middle-class 11-year-old, living through his parents’ divorce. His father is cold and emotionless, while his mother is so eccentric that you question her sanity. Laurie, a confused and disturbed child, lives in a world of his own, gleaned from his reading of the encyclopaedia.