The Hand-Reared Boy

The groundbreaking novel about sex and growing up, available as an ebook for the first time.

Longlisted for the Lost Man Booker Prize, The Hand-Reared Boy was the first literary novel to honestly, and explicitly, explore the sexual awakening of a young man. Quite shocking when first published in 1970, it is now considered a classic.

It is the first book in the Horatio Stubbs Trilogy.

Brian says: “Young Horatio Stubbs suffers the pangs of adolescence, but is weaned from the pleasures of masturbation by the delights offered by his school’s nursing sister, who is not all she seems. The novel became a great scandal in England, where it was rejected by thirteen publishers, and caused a lawsuit – as a result of which it became a bestseller.”

Reviews

‘If you think sex is disgusting, or ought not to be described, don’t read The Hand-Reared Boy. If you can take it, you’ll like it.’ EVENING STANDARD

‘The first British novel to explore sexuality in such a frank and honest way.’ FORUM

‘So filthy, I read it with the door of my office closed, as if afraid of being caught.’ OBSERVER

‘A very funny and a very decent book.’ GUARDIAN

About the author

Brian Aldiss, OBE, is a fiction and science fiction writer, poet, playwright, critic, memoirist and artist. He was born in Norfolk in 1925. After leaving the army, Aldiss worked as a bookseller, which provided the setting for his first book, THE BRIGHTFOUNT DIAIRES (1955). His first published science fiction work was the story ‘Criminal Record’, which appeared in Science Fantasy in 1954. Since then he has written nearly 100 books and over 300 short stories.