The final novel from Carnegie Medal-winning author Mal Peet is a sweeping coming-of-age adventure, with all the characteristic beauty and strenth of his prose.
Both harrowing and life-affirming, the final novel from Carnegie Medal-winning author Mal Peet is the sweeping coming-of-age adventure of a mixed race boy transported to North America.
Born from a street liaison between a poor young woman and an African sailor in the 1900s, Beck is soon orphaned and sent to the Catholic Brothers in Canada. Shipped to work on a farm, his escape takes him across the continent in a search for belonging. Enduring abuse and many hardships, Beck has times of comfort and encouragement, eventually finding Grace, the woman with whom he can finally forge his life and shape his destiny as a young man. A picaresque novel set during the Depression as experienced by a young black man, it depicts great pain but has an uplifting and inspiring conclusion.
- ISBN10 1406331120
- ISBN13 9781406331127
- Publish Date 1 October 2016 (first published 18 August 2016)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 22 December 2023
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Walker Books Ltd
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 272
- Language English