Pig

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 2 OCT. 1996

First published in 1994 in England, where it won several awards, British writer Cowan's remarkable debut is a poignant coming-of-age-story set in a bleak English town. Narrator Danny, now 15, has always escaped his parents' arguments by visiting his beloved Scotland-born grandparents, Grandad and Gran, at their cottage on the edge of town. Grandad, whose left leg was amputated years ago, would recount colorful stories about raising pigs and working in a slaughterhouse. When Gran dies of a stroke, Grandad is forced to move out of the cottage they shared for 57 years and into a nursing home. Danny offers to care for their last pig, an aging sow Gran once saved from certain death. Despite his mother's objections, Danny begins making daily trips to the cottage, which is surrounded by debris from demolished homes and an old steelworks. An entertainment park called LeisureLand is planned for this site, including the cottage and its allotment. Danny falls in love with Surinder, a bookish Pakistani girl whose family is despised by bigoted villagers. The cottage becomes their secret hideaway, where Danny dreams about quitting school, getting a job and making a life for himself and Surinder at the cottage. His optimism--for their relationship, the pig and his Grandad--begins to fade by the summer's end, when he must make some difficult decisions. It's a simple tale, made moving and memorable by Cowan's beautifully restrained prose. Translation rights: Jennifer Kavanagh.