Paperboy

Superman, Dracula, The Avengers, Treasure Island…when you’re ten years old, you can fall in love with any story so long as it’s a good one. But what if you’re growing up in a house without books? Christopher Fowler’s touching childhood memoir captures life in suburban London as it has rarely been seen, through the eyes of a lonely boy who spends his days between the library and the cinema, devouring novels, comics, films, cereal packet-backs, anything that might reveal a story. But it’s 1960, and after fifteen years of war repair, his family is not ready for a child cursed with too much imagination… Caught between a sensible, exhausted mother and a father fighting his own demons, their son increasingly takes refuge in words. His parents try to understand his peculiar obsessions, but fast lose patience with him - and each other. As a war of nerves escalates to include every member of the family, something has to give. But does it mean that boys must always give up their dreams for the tough lessons of real life?