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  2. Ebooks
  3. Boy

EBOOK

Boy

A Novel

James Hanley
5
(2)
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Pages
186
Year
2015
Language
English
Publisher
Open Road Media

About

To escape a brutal life on the Liverpool docks, a boy runs away to sea Arthur Fearon is nearly thirteen, and in the eyes of the law, that makes him a man. He wants to study to become a chemist, but his family cannot afford for him to continue school. The thought of a life working the docks makes Fearon break down in front of his classmates, but there is no time to cry. This boy has to get to work.   The docks are hellish, and Fearon's first day is his last. He hops a steamer to Alexandria, looking for a better life on the sea, but everywhere he goes, he finds cruelty, vice, and the crushing weight of adulthood. He will not be a man for long.   The subject of an infamous 1930s obscenity trial, this is the original, unexpurgated text of James Hanley's landmark novel: an unflinching examination of child labor and a timeless tale of adulthood gained too soon.

Related Subjects

  • Coming Of Age
  • Adult Fiction
  • Sea Stories
  • Literary

Reviews

"James Hanley's writing is as succinct as a telegram, nude, yet terrific."
The New York Times
"[Hanley's writing is] uncompromising, stark, too truthful to be comfortable."
Anthony Burgess
"[Hanley was] not British, not American, not South African, not Ebury Street, not Chicago. Just language like a good clean cyclone."
Anthony Burgess

Artists

James HanleyAuthor