A very cruel story

I've just finished reading the most cruel story I've read in a long time - The Outcast by Sadie Jones. I bought it in WH Smiths Liverpool St Station as part of a buy one get one half price, (well, I was hanging around waiting for Matt to leave the office) and plastered with Richard and Judy stickers no less. (When I worked in publishing in Sydney we used to often buy the US version of a title as the covers suited the Aus market more, but always with strict instructions that they would not arrived stickered with Oprah's Book Club labels otherwise the indies would not take them for love nor money.)

But I digress. This book begins just as the WW2 is ending and is about a little boy who is very close to his mother. Things change when his father arrives home from the war, but just as he is adapting to having his father back, his mother drowns in a tragic accident. From then on every page is just filled with torment for this little boy as he grows into a man and he starts blotting life out by self harming and drinking. The mother in me was just aching to reach out and give him a hug, as every new horrible thing happened to him I was just yelling, no, someone, please just love him! It takes until the final page for you to feel that things are going to get better for him, but even then it's a brief glimmer of happiness on a train platform before he has to leave for national service. Did I enjoy this book, hmm not sure. Did I stay up until gone midnight to finish reading it, yes I did.