I loved this book. Its narrative, characterizations and structure all appealed to me. I have been a fan of Ms. Livesey's work for some time and this may be her best book yet.

The story starts with three siblings walking home from school and finding an injured young man in a field. He has blood on his legs and appears to be going in and out of consciousness. Before the ambulance arrives he whispers one word and each of the siblings hear it differently. The three interpretations are ''coward', 'cornflower', and 'courage'.

The three siblings are Duncan, 13 years old, Zoe, 16, and Matthew, 18. Duncan is adopted and is very gifted at art. After finding the injured person, he thinks he sees his 'first mother' outside his window that night and becomes fixated on finding her. Betty, his mother, tells Duncan to talk to all the others in the family before they decide whether to start looking for her. Duncan is an empathetic, tender, and loving child, trying to make sense of what they saw in the field and secrets in his family.

Zoe is on the cusp of womanhood, very bright and very interested in finding a soulmate. The recent events in the field have created a sense of mortality for her and she realizes that life is fragile and has no guarantees. She decides to take some risks and go for what her heart seeks. She is also very troubled about her parents. She picked up a packet of photos and one of the photos revealed something quite troubling.

Matthew is going to college next year and is fixated on finding the criminal who hurt the young man. He has an idea of what the car looks like and a vague description of the perpetrator so he decides to go looking for him. He likes to talk to the detective on the case and discuss what is happening with the investigation.

All three siblings love one another in a deep and trusting way, something not seen very much in families. There is no squabbling and fighting among them. Each has been changed by the traumatic event in the field and reacts to it differently. Duncan connects with Karel, the injured young man, and tries to find out what the word he heard meant. His art is deeply affected by the trauma. Matthew meets with Karel's family and talks with them about the case and his efforts at finding the criminal. He is realizing that what he previously thought was so important might be brief and tenuous. He has grown to understand that what matters is depth of connection, family, and trusted friends. Zoe and Duncan work hard to protect their family from potential difficulties and, together, keep a significant secret.

Each chapter is about one of the three siblings and is titled with their name. I liked getting the individual perspectives of each of them and learning about depth and the richness of their lives. This novel is about what is truly important in life and the questions to which we have no answers and never will. Despite living without answers, Ms. Livesey explores ways we carry on and sublimate, taking steps to enrich ourselves and those around us.

I liked living in the world of this book. For a novel that centers around a violent attack, the mood of the book was surprisingly gentle and introspective. The story features three teenage siblings as they process the experience of finding the victim of a violent crime in a field near their house. Of the three perspectives, I appreciated Duncan's point of view for his highly attuned artist's sense of observation.

Margot Livesey has been one of my all-time, always-read authors for a long time. I was thrilled to get the chance to read this new one and it didn't disappoint! I loved how, when it opens, you think the story is going to go in one direction (the direction of the dead boy) but it goes the other way. I thought it was a nearly perfect (and perfectly short) novel.

While somewhat atypical of Livesey The Boy in the Field is a gripping read as adolescents begin to realize that the world around them is more complicated than they imagined. The main characters are engaging and while I’m. It a fan of “coming of age” books there is something reverent in the way Livesey treats this phase of life and family dynamics.