Wonderboy

"This novel is one of the most outstanding and emotionally satisfying books I’ve ever read." - Literary Fiction Review

"Wonderboy is a book that will make you laugh, make you cry, and make you angry. But most of all, it will make you think." - Red City Review

"Wonderboy is a deeply moving story of friendship found in unlikely places, dreams lost and reclaimed, and wondrous hopes ... it is a story about the beauty of art, imagination, and love." - San Francisco Book Review

"This book has resonated in my heart a long time after I finished reading it ... A cast of rich, believable characters which come to life with a stroke of a pen ... I got to know the(m) and what they went through mattered to me ... A brilliant read." - theonlinebookclub.org Official Review

"(A) well-crafted, visceral, quietly surreal experience beyond adequate compare." - Self Publishing Review

Australia, 1975. Daydreamer, Jack, cycles to school each morning in the dull country town of Miller’s Creek, wishing he had a like-minded friend with whom to play make-believe. When Juliet, a world-renowned opera singer and her daughter, Mel, claim the mysterious, boarded-up farm next door, it is as if his prayers have been answered.

Through the inspired lessons of their teacher, Rush, also new in town, and their own imagination, Jack and Mel forge a seemingly unbreakable bond, bridging fantasy and reality.

But all is not as blissful as it seems. Jack’s mother, Jean, hints jealously that his father, Daniel, once shared a similar connection with Mel’s mother, Juliet. But what brought it unstuck? And are the same forces still at play?

In a town where everyone knows each other’s business, and what they don’t know, they make up, vicious gossip soon threatens to muddy the waters of friendship forever. Jack and Mel’s world of make-believe is hauled into the cold light of day, with far-reaching implications for all those they hold dear.

At times joyous, and at times heartbreakingly sad, Wonderboy is a plea to the primacy of youthful imagination, and a soaring paean to the transformative power of music.