Elusive portrait of a precocious Peter Pan
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The schooldays tale is a classic in British fiction, and in Amherst’s debut, he takes the tropes of public school—I think the school feels more like a grammar, but I could be wrong—and turns them on their head, placing them in the background of his near anonymous protagonist, “the boy” in much of the book, named as Daniel at rare times. In foregrounding the boy as a precocious but un-self-aware cipher, Amherst’s ambition appears to be to illuminate the hazy, inchoate mental life of early teenagers, where the world still revolves around them, where their wills are applied to the world, not vice versa.

To me, sadly, the prose felt mannered and static, glossing over the emotional turns in the boy’s story. Things happened around the boy or to him, but his lack of active participation in making things happen reduced to nothing any empathy that I might have felt for a character on the precipice of change. I believe that names have power and I think the book’s allusive title is a pointer to what Amherst intended, and unfortunately directing me to the myth of Cain led me to expect more from the book than was ultimately delivered.

Three stars for the competence in writing.

Another one on my TBR which got promoted to higher up after reading a very positive review. I really enjoyed this story of a boy, the son of a headmaster, who, when his father leaves his job, moves to a village, somewhere much more rural, to live. The story deals with Daniel (although, oddly, he is often referred to as 'the boy' and his name is only apparent when others speak of him, or to him) and his coming-of-age at his prep school, his lack of being accepted, and the way he challenges adults' thoughts. It is clearly set at a different time to now - it feels early 1980s, I think, as some of things that happen (for example, the art teacher's behaviour) would not go unchallenged in 2025!

Overall, this is great writing - simple, but impactful, with some lovely prose. What is holding me back from 5*? Two things: firstly, the way there is anonymity in places, and the references to 'the boy' which jars for me. And secondly, timing - it is never 100% clear what is happening and when, and whether the boy moved to a different school or not.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A debut novel and I don't think I was the intended audience. I found it difficult to engage with Daniel, he thought he was so much better than everyone else because his father was the head of a private school. But when the family's fortunes change, then Daniel starts to treat his father with disdain. His relationships with the other boys are difficult - there is a lot of introspection and Daniel struggles to see his own shortcomings. I suppose this is a coming of age - you see Daniel's innocence, his anxiety and his wanting to fit in but he isn't likeable. I'm sorry but even though I can admire the writing, this wasn't for me.

With thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

This book is being hailed as one of the great depictions of adolescence, but if it is, it's failed to do anything much for me. The protagonist is Danny, 12 years old and at the time of the story he and his sister are moving schools as their father, headmaster of their previous school, has been asked to leave. This also means they are losing the schoolmaster's house that came with the job. Being the son of the headmaster has always made Danny feel special, although inexplicably the other schoolchildren never seemed to think he was. In his new school he tries to convey this specialness to his new schoolmates, with a similar lack of success, until he feels vindicated when the art master singles him and his friend out for extra art classes. Meanwhile, his parents' lives are imploding - his mother has some quite severe mental health issues which sound a lot like bipolar disorder, leading to days spent crying in bed and culminating in a suicide attempt while his father drowns his sorrows and takes refuge in drink.

The author is adept at capturing the way that children fail to understand the nuances of the complicated adult world around them, and how they try to make sense of it. In that sense I can see why this book has been compared to other depictions of the cusp between childhood and adolescence. However, I don't know whether it is because I'm too old to remember the agonies of adolescence - I don't think I am - but this book just didn't resonate with me. Danny is a painfully inept child, but not in a way that made me feel empathy with him or that made me want to protect him, or be angry on his behalf. Rather, he was the slightly weird child that I would have tried to avoid because he was too much like hard work, because he just didn't learn from his mistakes. Yes, his parents both have their own problems, but his sister seems to have managed in spite of this to become a person who has friends and can negotiate the social life of a teenager. Danny is crippled with anxiety and because of this he tries too hard, and invariably gets it obscurely wrong. At the same time he is quite self-important - a far from winning combination of character traits, and there is little sense that he is learning, maturing, developing any self-perspicacity, gaining an understanding of the complexity of human relationships and motivations. He is an introspective child which is fine, but I thought also a weak character. Is this due to his parents' alcoholism and mental health issues? Is he too young at 12 to have started to develop his own sense of self? Maybe, but this is not conveyed in the arc of this narrative. And the ending doesn't hold out much promise that Danny will grow into a fine man. It was all a bit meh.

I think this book is likely to be one of those marmite books of the year. It’s very well written and had me turning the pages because of that, however the main character, Daniel, is really not a very likeable boy. Whilst quite a lot happens in the book, it moves at a pace and little is ever really dwelled upon, although perhaps this is a reflection of the main character and his self-importance and ego. 3.5 stars for me rounded up to 4.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for a review.

Thank you to Faber and Netgalley for allowing me to read this debut book from Michael Amherst. At only 208 pages, this is short but perfectly formed.

This is a brilliantly executed coming of age story set in 90's England. We meet "the boy" of the story, Daniel, in the months leading up to leaving primary school and moving to big school. Unfortunately he's not a popular boy, he's awkward, never says the right or the acceptable thing and is always putting his foot in it. He's a mummy's boy and he feels shame constantly. He just wants to fit in with his other classmates, but he's coming to the realisation that maybe he is the problem.

He's at an age where people and school can be cruel. And certain adults in his life take advantage and don't have his best interests at heart. Also, when he finds out some home truths about his parents, it is heartbreaking. He's realising they are real people with their own lives and they may not be the people he has imagined.

I started off this book thinking Daniel was an unlikeable boy, but by the end I was rooting for him and just wanted him to like himself, and to have acceptance. To be his own person and ignore what the outside world said. But I suppose that is pretty difficult when you're twelve.

Their is a sadness and a melancholy to this book and I loved that. A brilliant new story teller I'll be looking out for in future.

What I loved most about The Boyhood of Cain was its breathtaking depiction of Tresco. The novel captures the aching beauty of this place with such vivid, lyrical prose that I felt transported. Having spent my childhood summers on this island myself, I adored seeing it through Daniel’s eyes—his wonder, his attachment, and the way the landscape shapes his experiences.

Daniel’s story is heartbreaking. As a child burdened with far more than his fair share of hardships, his desperate longing for love moved me beyond words. There’s a moment—no spoilers—when a teacher he deeply admires tells him something that will shape him forever, and you can feel the weight of that realization settle on him. This novel pulled at the deepest parts of my soul. Though Daniel is a precocious child, you can’t help but want to protect him as he shoulders more and more of the world’s cruelties.

This is the most powerful novel I’ve read in years about childhood—raw, unflinching, and achingly real.

I truly loved this book but just wanted more. I wanted to observe Daniel growing into his adult self after an unsettling adolescence, I wanted to learn more about his parents who were complex characters, not fully explored. Perhaps I just don't like endings, but I almost always feel that books end abruptly which leaves me with a sense of dissatisfaction.

I really did adore observing the world from Daniel's point of view, the confusion he feels and the endless observation and curiosity which made him such an interesting character. The sense of love and hate he feels for his parents, and his yearning to be seen as gifted. His strong sense of justice and the casual cruelty so many neurodivergent children experience.

What I read I loved, I just wanted so much more.

This felt like part of a coming of age novel which stopped too soon. As Danny was growing up, you really felt like you were watching the world, and trying to make sense of it, through a child's eyes. Danny has lots of questions which are perfectly reasonable to innocently ask and also extremely difficult for a parent to answer honestly - his father's drinking, mother's depression and attempt to take her own life, the landlord's attraction to Danny and the art teacher's affection for his student. Sadly, all of these issues are real problems - for both adult and child. It was interesting how the adults skirt around Danny's questions, trying to find answers which are palatable, but not quite a lie.

As a character, Danny is quite self-aware in a naive, childish way. The book seemed to follow several years of Danny's life, but I didn't get much sense that he was growing up, other than the problems he faces later in the book start to become more sexually charged, presumably as he approaches puberty.

I can't say that I loved the book. I did not really warm to Danny, though I do think his 'growing up' felt quite realistically portrayed.

I wanted to love this, but the more time goes by after finishing it, the less I do.
There were absolutely positives (after all, I did finish it in about 2 days), so let’s highlight those first. The descriptive writing here is beautifully immersive, plunging you into the characters’ world from the off. Life in the English countryside is captured in a way that feels very real, both in its beauty and in its constraints. And, this being a character study, you do get a very clear and nuanced picture of our protagonist, Danny.
Unfortunately, Danny can be frustrating beyond what is typical for a young boy – I struggled with the sections where he comes off as entitled rather than precocious, as contrary rather than misunderstood. In other sections, he is understandable, even endearing, but I was never quite sure where the reader is supposed to stand. And because we’re so close to Danny, secondary characters struggle to take off and feel as fully portrayed as he is. His sister, for example, is often there, but rarely leaves a mark.
Also, being a character-driven book, I was expecting the plot to take a backseat, particularly as it’s a fairly short read. However, at least two major incidents occur that feel like they should have had a larger impact and more space to breathe and unravel on the page. Perhaps it was meant to be commentary on how children often fail to note the full effect of big events until later in life, but because we don’t see those effects, it just feels like the narrative itself is glazing over them.
I do think there’s a specific subset of readers who would enjoy this – those who prefer character to take complete precedence over plot, or those who are more interested in the themes of religion and the countryside – but I’m afraid that was not me!

A character lead book without clear character progression. I was constantly expecting something to happen and not a lot did.

This was quite an odd book and difficult to review. It gave a good account of the coming of age of a boy who was desperate to be older and taller, have a deeper voice, and most of all be accepted by his peers. Through the book he seems to come to an understanding of why he is unpopular only to do something awkward again or question everything particularly around religion, and upset everyone around him. The feeling of being an outsider is magnified by rarely been called by his name (Daniel) but referred to as the boy. Family dynamics are also difficult with his father a failed teacher and farmer and an alcoholic and his mother mentally ill.
I felt unsure of Mr Miller's motives in his dealings with Daniel, or really his place in the book
Overall it was a sad book with little hope, but the writing style kept me reading until the end.
Thank you to netgalley and Faber and Faber for an advance copy of this book..
3.5 rounded up to 4

This book was not what I was expecting at all. I thought it was going to be a coming of age book from the perspective of a young lad about to enter puberty.

Danny is at a school where his father is the headmaster. He has a mother and a sister. His father is dismissed from his job and the family have to move from their home within the school grounds.

Danny is always striving to be perfect and the best at all things apart from sport. Danny befriends a new boy Philip and they have a budding friendship.

Danny comes across as a very young boy with no idea of real life or feelings. He knows he is different to others but not how and is always striving to make people like him.

For me the book didn’t actually go anywhere, or explain anything and to this end I found it rather dull

The cover is beautiful but I found 'The Boyhood of Cain' an unsettling read in many ways. Is Danny observant, intuitive, wise beyond his years, who cares so much for his depressed mother while containing rage for his seemingly indifferent father? Or is he precocious, self-absorbed and frustrated by the lack of recognition and attention to him? The undertones and allusions throughout veer to sexual confusion and betrayal, disappointment. Certain events captured and seen through the eyes of a child are emotive and inspire regret that children are often not credited with percipience. Others make one glad Daniel’s mother offers him sensible life advice!

This is a story about a boy - or The Boy - in that uncomfortable place between childhood and adulthood where he wants to be special and accepted as well as discovering where he stands on life's great issues. Such as, is John Constable a great artist?

The son of a headmaster receives some privileges, but this also leads to him being unpopular. He deserves to be treated better, he thinks. Then his father loses his job at the school and the boy's homelife deteriorates, both his parents have psychological issues and he searches for acceptance and his place in the world elsewhere. He is drawn to a boy at his school who is special (talented in art) and also popular as well as being physically maturing. All things that The Boy wants for himself.

The complex story is told from The Boy's perspective in the third person: a rather unusual style, which does work. The book covers the thought processes that many children of that age do, in an inferred manner with lots of reported speech, something that fits with the theme. Set in an unnamed small English town or village, the rural and parochial neighbours serve to add pathos.

I considered the title and concluded that like the Biblical Cain, The Boy tries but never really becomes the chosen one. A well written coming of age tale, rather plotless and disjointed, but with plenty to think about.

3.5 stars rounded up

In 173 pages Michael Amherst produces a sensitive, evocative and convincing coming-of-age story. His first novels centres on Daniel, referred to in this third person narrative as “the boy” and his experience of school, his relationship with his family and his awareness of adolescence creeping up on him and classmates.
The boy is something of an outsider. His father had been headmaster at the school but had struggled to cope, the boy feels that his father’s role at the school should give him some status but it doesn’t. He continually measures himself against his peers. Who is the brightest? Who has read more? Who should be the teachers’ favourites? His brittle sensitivity means he often misses school through illness, real or imagined, keeping him at home with a devoted mother who demonstrates bipolar tendencies and a father who increasingly wants to be down the pub.
The story feels very emotionally aware. We know what the boy is feeling even when those feelings may do him little favour and for me it feels a little strange when there is such acute sensitivity and openness that we are distanced from the main characters – the boy, the mother, the father, the sister by the use of these impersonal pronouns. There’s also a timelessness to it, occasionally a reference will come in which dates things to around the early 1990s, but each time it did it surprised me as it doesn’t feel rooted in time and also the age of the boy felt a bit slippery- at times he seems so young, at others far less so, but I can certainly put the down to the nature of adolescence. I do feel that I’m just missing out on something around the significance of the symbolic title. I know who Cain is but cannot relate it to the events or characterisation. This feeling of missing out unsettles me a tad.
The writing is of high quality. At times it reminded me of Alan Hollinghurst and (especially) “Our Evenings” (2024) which was such a great return to form for him and anyone who wants to lose themselves in rich prose with a memorable main character would certainly find this debut worthwhile. It is a short novel but I found myself reading quite slowly to savour the richness of this work.

“The Boyhood Of Cain” is published by Faber and Faber on 11th February 2025 as an e-book and 13th February in hardback. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.
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The Boyhood of Cain is a difficult read partly because the writer used very little dialogue. I understand he was aiming to show what was going on inside the boy's head but instead I felt distanced from him. I also disliked that Daniel was called 'the boy' rather than by his name, which may have been intentional to illustrate Daniel's unworthiness and lack of identity, but it grated on me. It also was very telling rather than showing which irritated me too.

Daniel's story is that of a boy on the cusp of adolescence. There are hints that he is unsure of his sexuality but I didn't feel that this came over strongly enough. His family consists of his father, a headmaster who loses his job and their home and is borderline alcoholic; his mother who Daniel adores, suffers from depression and is absent much of the time; and his sister, who does not appear to suffer from the pangs of adolescence and lack of friendships that Daniel does. Eventually Daniel makes a friend of a new boy at school, Philip, and both are given extra art tuition by Mr Miller who has favourites among his pupils. It's not too difficult to see where the relationship between the teacher and favoured pupils is heading.

While Daniel's character is finely drawn the other characters are less so, with the exception of his mother. I can't say I enjoyed The Boyhood of Cain and although I tried to have sympathy for Daniel he was very self absorbed and rather unlikeable. I accept that young adolescents are self absorbed but in this case I found it unrealistic. I couldn't see how he changed during the course of the story at all. Not sure why the title of the book is about Cain either. If it is autobiographical then I feel sorry for Michael Amherst.

Thanks to NetGalley and Faber and Faber Ltd for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A coming of age novel that differentiate itself from a million others by portraying one of the most unlikable characters I have ever encountered in literature! Daniel is suppose to be a bit of a prodigy, well above his age due his privilege of having a well to do family that also values education. He is suppose to be a bit of an oddball too, a loner because he is misunderstood by his peers. But unfortunately, he just cannot snap out of a thick sense of self-entitlement, ethnocentrism even; the the point that every rub with reality must the the fault of his father, or mother, or the world ...

I must admit, I have struggled throughout, as there was nothing to endear the character or the story to me! Sorry ....

Hmmm…can‘t decide if this is a 2 star or 3 star book. It wasn‘t what I expected and, indeed the chronology within the book was quite different to the blurb.

Daniel, referred to as ‘the boy‘ throughout, attends a school where his father used to be headmaster so feels above everyone else. Then he makes a new friend and a popular teacher shows interest in him, but his mother and father are behaving oddly.

Daniel was very unlikeable, his sister was almost invisible (so superfluous to the plot) and it felt very old-fashioned, almost 60s, despite being set in the late 1990s. By the end, though, I did appreciate Daniel‘s inner voice and understood the way his mind was working, hence the 3 stars.

It was the cover of The Boyhood of Cain that first drew me in when I saw it on Netgalley, and the fact that it was published by Faber, whose output rarely lets me down. This is Michael Amherst's debut novel, and it's a gorgeous coming of age story set mostly in rural England.

I fell in love with the protagonist Daniel. I've read some reviews that described him as precocious and irritating - I found him to be a curious, steadfast little guy, so courageous in his convictions and staying true to himself, despite the pressure to be like everyone else that is part of life in those tricky preteen and teenage years.

Daniel attends a prestigious school where his father is headmaster but things change rapidly for the family when his father loses his job and their home, and Daniel's mother goes through a bout of depression. Daniel becomes close to a school friend and is taken under the wing of his art teacher Mr Miller but as Daniel begins to assert himself, find his place in the world and consider his faith and his sexuality, he discovers that all is not as it seems at school or in life.

The sparse prose and third person narrative allows for enough distance to lure you into thinking you're reading the story as a detached observer, but Daniel's innermost thoughts and fears are slowly revealed to the reader, leading to what was for me an unexpectedly intimate and emotional reading experience. It reminded me of They Came Like Swallows by William Maxwell, or Stoner by John Williams, in the sense that it's a book that creeps under your skin and has the feel of a modern classic. I get the Claire Keegan comparison too, another Faber stalwart.

4 stars, recommend, especially if you enjoyed the above books.

Many thanks to Faber Books for the arc via @netgalley. The Boyhood of Cain will be published next week 13 February 2025.