The Outside Boy: A Novel

A poignant, coming of age novel about an Irish gypsy boy's childhood in the 1950's from the national bestselling author of A Rip in Heaven and American Dirt.

Ireland, 1959 Young Christopher Hurley is a tinker, a Pavee gypsy, who roams with his father and extended family from town to town, carrying all their worldly possessions in their wagons. Christy carries with him a burden of guilt as well, haunted by the story of his mother's death in childbirth.

The wandering life is the only one Christy has ever known, but when his grandfather dies, everything changes. His father decides to settle briefly, in a town, where Christy and his cousin can receive proper schooling and prepare for their first communions. But still, always, they are treated as outsiders.

As Christy struggles to find his way amid the more conventional lives of his new classmates, he starts to question who he is and where he belongs. But then the discovery of an old newspaper photograph, and a long-buried secret from his mother's mysterious past, changes his life forever....

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384 pages

Average rating: 7.86

21 RATINGS

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1 REVIEW

Community Reviews

emaher
Jan 03, 2024
7/10 stars
I initially chose to read this book as I am a huge fan of American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins and I also love Ireland, but I will admit it took me a bit to get into the story as it is told from the perspective of a young boy, which is not the point of view I am typically used to. However, there were a lot of unexpected twists in the story and it did make me surprisingly emotional as well!

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