Noel Virtue

Elsdon is a sensitive young boy being raised in New Zealand by parents who belong to a fanatical religious cult called The Brethren. His family is rather dysfunctional. He finds his great aunt dead with the skeleton of a baby. Was it her baby? Whenever Elsdon asks questions he is beaten. His best friend shoots his 2 younger sisters, a 'chinaman' eats his cat (or so he thinks), his father looses his job and the family have to move and his mother slowly goes crazy before his father leaves the family.

Not a happy story but a very well written, moving tale. And Elsdon shines through the poverty and abuse, he always keeps a spark of humanity and humour.… (altro)