Success Story

This is a science book. What is to be will be. Our only refugelies in that which might not have been. An impoverished boy (think of Oliver Twist with burn scars) lives a hard life, then finally, as he finally gets a handle on things, the story turns into science fiction. Though the guy's life is a bummer, there's a grim fascination about him as it unfolds: I kept wondering what catastrophe would happen next.