Laura,an impoverished Cornish girl,meets her husband when they are both in service in Teignmouth in 1916. They have a baby,Charles,but Laura's husband returns home from the trenches a damaged man,already ill with the tuberculosis that will soon leave her a widow. In a small,class-obsessed town she raises her boy alone,working as a laundress,and gradually becomes aware that he is some kind of genius.
As an intensely private young man,Charles signs up for the navy with the new rank of coder. His escape from the tight,gossipy confines of Launceston to the colour and violence of war sees him blossom as he experiences not only the possibility of death,but the constant danger of a love that is as clandestine as his work.
Mother's Boy is the story of a man who is among,yet apart from his fellows,in thrall to,yet at a distance from his own mother; a man being shaped for a long,remarkable and revered life spent hiding in plain sight. But it is equally the story of the dauntless mother who will continue to shield him long after the dangers of war are past.
Publisher: Headline Publishing GroupISBN: 9781472257420Number of pages: 416Weight: 294 gDimensions: 196 x 128 x 32 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'One of the joys of Gale's writing is how even the smallest of characters can appear fully formed,due to a charming wickedness alongside deeper observations'-Irish Times
'A writer with heart,soul,and a dark and naughty wit,one whose company you relish and trust'-Observer
Patrick Gale
A bestselling British novelist,Patrick Gale was born on the Isle of Wight. Before becoming a writer,Gale made his living with a series of odd jobs including,he writes,being'a typist,a singing waiter,a ghost-writer for an encyclopedia of the musical and... a book reviewer'. His first two novels,The Aerodynamics of Pork and Ease were published on the same day in 1986. Since then his books have included: Dangerous Pleasures,Rough Music,Notes from an Exhibition,The Whole Day Through,A Perfectly Good Man,A Place Called Winter and Take Nothing With You.
Visit the Patrick Gale author page
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