Every so often a novel comes along that is so ambitious in its intention and so confident of its voice that it reminds us what a singular and potent thing a novel can be' San Francisco Chronicle
I hypothesized a lover who'd take me away . . . I expected him to be able to divine my existence and my need, to intuit that in this darkened room in this country house a fourteen-year-old was waiting for him.
In repressive 1950s America, a precocious, imaginative and hopelessly romantic fourteen-year-old finds himself increasingly attracted to men. Alienated from his eccentric parents, his cruel sister and his mocking peers, the unnamed narrator begins to try to 'cure' himself of his desires - embarking on a dark and desperate journey that will ultimately see him leave behind his childhood for ever.
Originally published in 1982 as the first of Edmund White's trilogy of autobiographical novels, A Boy's Own Story became an instant classic for its pioneering portrayal of homosexuality. Lyrical and powerfully evocative, this is an unforgettable portrait of a boy finding himself in a society that refuses to recognize him.
'Edmund White has crossed The Catcher in the Rye with De Profundis, J. D. Salinger with Oscar Wilde, to create an extraordinary novel' New York Times
'Shines with authenticity . . . outstanding' Guardian
The boy's self-portrait shines with authenticity, he is an extraordinary but plausible mixture of sweetness and deviousness . . . White's prose is marvellously sensual while his eye is sharply satiric . . . outstanding
