Of a Boy
Encyclopedia
Of a Boy is a 2002 novel
by Sonya Hartnett
about a lonely and troubled youth.
The omnipresent narrator follows the plight of Adrian, a 9 year old child, who was taken away from his mother as she was "unfit to care for him". Adrian spends his days thinking of things that unsettle him such as sea monsters and growing purple hair. One of the things that most disturbs him is the fact that three children, surnamed Metford, disappear from a neighborhood near his around the beginning of the book.
Shortly after the disappearance of the Metford children, a twelve year old girl called Nicole moves in across the street from Adrian. She has no friends and doesn't attend school, but she mystifies Adrian and he soon becomes obsessed with her as he loses his only friend Clinton. The novel ends tragically with Adrian and Nicole falling beneath a pool cover (while trying to find the abducted children) in winter and being unable to break through to the air. The story ends with Adrian's grandmother believing him to be abducted and raped, just as the Metford children.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Sonya Hartnett
Sonya Hartnett
Sonya Hartnett is an Australian author.Hartnett writes fiction variously for children, young adults and adults and has won numerous prizes and awards, having been described as "the finest Australian writer of her generation". She wrote her first novel, Trouble All the Way, at the age of thirteen...
about a lonely and troubled youth.
The omnipresent narrator follows the plight of Adrian, a 9 year old child, who was taken away from his mother as she was "unfit to care for him". Adrian spends his days thinking of things that unsettle him such as sea monsters and growing purple hair. One of the things that most disturbs him is the fact that three children, surnamed Metford, disappear from a neighborhood near his around the beginning of the book.
Shortly after the disappearance of the Metford children, a twelve year old girl called Nicole moves in across the street from Adrian. She has no friends and doesn't attend school, but she mystifies Adrian and he soon becomes obsessed with her as he loses his only friend Clinton. The novel ends tragically with Adrian and Nicole falling beneath a pool cover (while trying to find the abducted children) in winter and being unable to break through to the air. The story ends with Adrian's grandmother believing him to be abducted and raped, just as the Metford children.
Awards
- winner of the 2003 The Age Book of the YearThe Age Book of the YearThe Age Book of the Year Awards are annual literary awards presented by Melbourne's The Age newspaper. The awards were first presented in 1974. Since 1998 they have been presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival...
- winner of the 2003 Commonwealth Writers Prize (South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book)
- shortlisted for the 2003 Miles Franklin AwardMiles Franklin AwardThe Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize for the best Australian ‘published novel or play portraying Australian life in any of its phases’. The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin , who is best known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career ...
- shortlisted for the 2003 New South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsNew South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsThe New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards were established in 1979 by the New South Wales Premier Neville Wran. Commenting on its purpose, Wran said: "We want the arts to take, and be seen to take, their proper place in our social priorities...