The Outside Boy [B1828]

2010 PB in excellent condition. A poignant, coming of age novel about an Irish gypsy boy's childhood in the 1950's from the national bestselling author of A Rip in Heaven and American Dirt. Ireland, 1959: Young Christopher Hurley is a tinker, a Pavee gypsy, who roams with his father and extended family from town to town, carrying all their worldly possessions in their wagons. Christy carries with him a burden of guilt as well, haunted by the story of his mother's death in childbirth. The wandering life is the only one Christy has ever known, but when his grandfather dies, everything changes. His father decides to settle briefly, in a town, where Christy and his cousin can receive proper schooling and prepare for their first communions. But still, always, they are treated as outsiders. As Christy struggles to find his way amid the more conventional lives of his new classmates, he starts to question who he is and where he belongs. But then the discovery of an old newspaper photograph, and a long-buried secret from his mother's mysterious past, changes his life forever....

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "This book was so heartfelt and delightful. It got better and better the more I read and by the end I absolutely loved Christy's character. The banter and wit and descriptive writing brought me fully into the story. Another solid story from Jeanine Cummins!"; "I really loved this book. I enjoyed learning about the travelers in Ireland, and I felt that their perspective and beliefs were really well articulated. The story of Christy's birth and life unfolded in a lovely and poignant way, and the love of parents, especially Christy's dad, was so eloquently expressed. It was a very heart-warming, touching novel."