The One-in-a-Million Boy
The touching novel of a 104-year-old woman's friendship with a boy you'll never forget…
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- 49,00 kr
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- 49,00 kr
Publisher Description
She may be 104 years old, but Ona Vitkus is on a mission and it's all because of THE ONE-IN-A-MILLION-BOY...
Monica Wood's unforgettable novel about a boy in a million and the 104-year-old woman who saves his family is not to be missed by readers who loved THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY, ELIZABETH IS MISSING or THE SHOCK OF THE FALL.
'A lovely, quirky novel about misfits across generations' Daily Mail
'A bittersweet story about finding friendship in the most unlikely of places' Good Housekeeping.
The story of your life never starts at the beginning. Don't they teach you anything at school?
So says 104-year-old Ona to the 11-year-old boy who's been sent to help her out every Saturday morning. As he refills the bird feeders and tidies the garden shed, Ona tells him about her long life, from first love to second chances. Soon she's confessing secrets she has kept hidden for decades.
One Saturday, he doesn't show up. Ona starts to think he's not so special after all, but then his father Quinn arrives on her doorstep, determined to finish his son's good deed. The boy's mother is not so far behind. Ona is set to discover that even at her age the world can surprise you, and that sometimes sharing a loss is the only way to find yourself again.
What readers are saying about ONE IN A MILLION BOY:
'Delightful, quirky and heart-warming'
'A richly layered novel of hearts broken seemingly beyond repair and then bound by a stunning act of human devotion'
'With heart-breaking and emotional moments intertwined with humour and love, THE ONE IN A MILLION BOY proves it's never too late to make new friends'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wood never names the 11-year-old boy at the center of her bittersweet new novel; he is referred to as "the boy" from the start. This idiosyncratic and earnest list-making boy without friends dies as strangely "the first symptom is usually death" as he lived. His father, an itinerant guitarist named Quinn, decides to finish earning the child's Boy Scouts badge by doing yard work for the 104-year-old Ona Vitkus. This penance for being an absentee father turns into something even greater as he and his grief-stricken twice-ex-wife take up the boy's hope for Ona to set a world record as the oldest licensed driver. The author (Any Bitter Thing) reveals the prickly old woman's life story, beginning in Lithuania, through the boy's 10-part recorded interview with her; Ona slowly comes to realize what a gift his questions were, while the reader gains understanding into her character. Wood maintains the boy's unknowability by allowing just one (heartrending) scene from his point of view, which walks a thin line between sweet and saccharine, resulting in a devastating story.
