Giant
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Step into Edwardian Ireland and meet the boy whose imagination would one day create Narnia in this magical retelling of CS Lewis’s childhood.
Davy was too old for make-believe. Then he met Jacks.
Davy, a working-class boy living in East Belfast in 1908, is sent to work at the wealthy Lewis household. When he meets Jacks – the name by which CS Lewis was known to friends and family – Davy is captivated by his friend’s world of books and stories. Together the boys plunge into imagining and adventuring, and Davy discovers his own artistic talent. But when Davy is offered a job at the shipyard, and Jacks’s mother falls gravely ill, their wondrous days of make-believe seem numbered. Will they lose their extraordinary shared world forever?
"A heartwarming and wonder-filled tale" — Steven Elmore, President of the CS Lewis Foundation
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1908 Belfast, McQuoid's hopeful historical novel imagines the childhood of C.S. Lewis as seen through the eyes of Davy Caruth, the son of a Lewis family housekeeper. When his father can no longer work, 13-year-old Davy must step up in his stead. His mother's employer, Mrs. Lewis, offers payment in exchange for Davy spending time with her youngest son, who goes by Jacks. He introduces Davy to the joys of reading and writing, and together they create stories, until real-life stressors disrupt their playful boyhood. Davy must accept a higher-paying but dangerous job at the shipyard, and Jacks is sent to boarding school in England. Defying his mother's pleas to get his head out of the clouds, Davy attends nightly drawing classes. Then, in a turn of events, his hard work and big dreams translate to upward mobility. "Maybe filling their heads with stories and nonsense isn't such a bad thing," Davy's mother notes, emphasizing the creative heart of this class-conscious ode to dreamers, which suggests that imagination can curb the sting of harsh everyday realities. Ages 9–12.
