Cryer's Hill by Kitty Aldridge

Cryer's Hill

Kitty Aldridge

This melancholy read told with a sinister undercurrent, focuses on the feelings of two loners who struggle to fit in and make sense of their worlds. It centres on an innocent young boy desperate to learn to read (during the ITA phonetic spelling experiment) who steals a bundle of old letters written by a young poet fighting in the 2nd World War.

Extract
The brick mountains are strong, he realises. The wind presses against them, but the mountain is too strong for the wind. You have to admire the bricks, the way they hold together, their strength. Sean looks up again. The sky is swaying at the top; its blueness makes the bricks redder and their redness make the sky bluer.
Parallels
  • Wednesday's Child by Eloise Millar
  • The Gathering by Anne Enright