From his apparent deathbed, twenty-year-old Gabriel reflects on his painful childhood, beginning with the accidental death of his brother, Vernon, by Gabriel’s own hand. A narrative that unfolds through short chapters alternate between Gabriel’s memories and those of Finnigan, a character whose very existence is never confirmed. Was he truly a wild child, demanding Gabriel’s complicity in all kinds of nefarious behavior that included a string of arsons that nearly level the town, or is he a split part of Gabriel himself, a personality that Gabriel relied on as an escape from his own guilt? With exceptionally beautiful language, Hartnett explores the human capacity for evil and self-loathing, both of which are influenced by the cruelness of adults towards their impressionable children. Love and family connectedness might be a way out for Gabriel, and his devotion to a girl named Evangeline offers the potential for peace where his own family has only caused him psychological havoc: “But to me, who came from nowhere, whose family tree spreads no further than a girl in a photograph, who glimpsed the future only through sheenless prisms of my parents, Evangeline’s history seemed a precious and extraordinary thing. I liked the way the sturdy branches of her tree life her up to the sun.” But with Finnigan’s constant shadow casting darkness and fear over all of Gabriel’s dreams, and a mother determined to ruin his life, Gabriel’s imminent death might be the greatest gift. (Age 13 and older)

Twenty-year-old Gabriel lays dying. In alternating chapters, he and the untamed Finnigan narrate the events leading to Gabriel’s confinement. At only seven years of age, Gabriel—then called Anwell—inadvertently kills his severely disabled elder brother when left to care for him. Subsequently, he meets Finnigan, who does “bad things” while Anwell acts like “an angel” (37). Unloved by his parents, Anwell is attached only to Finnigan and to his dog, Surrender. But Surrender becomes a killer and arsonist, and Finnigan threatens Gabriel’s fragile relationship with Evangeline. In this powerful, beautifully written novel, Hartnett writes with psychological insight about a tormented boy in a small Australian town. 2007 USBBY Outstanding Inter national Books List, 2007 Michael L. Printz Honor Book, 2006 Commonwealth Writers Prize (South East Asia and South Pacific Region Best Book) Shortlist. hc Author lives in Australia, and in 2008 she received the Astrid Lindgren Memo

Originally published by Penguin Australia, in 2004.