Out of Breath

Description

A story told by a young girl featuring a cast of children left to make their own world.'Myerson at her best' - The Times Flynn is a thirteen-year-old girl caught between her violent, out-of-control brother, Sam, and her mother, who is struggling to cope. And then, one impossibly hot night, a strange half-feral boy called Alex turns up at the bottom of Flynn's garden. Alex is one of three runaways; there's also Diana, who has just had a baby, and Mouse, who is only six and already an accomplished arsonist. With Flynn and Sam in tow, the rag tag group of children venture into the deserted countryside, pursued by a terrifying and unseen man. Deep in the woods, they stumble across an abandoned cottage which seems to offer refuge but soon begins to reveal its dark and terrifying secrets...

Julie Myerson is the author of Home: The Story of Everyone Who Ever Lived in Our House and nine novels, including the best-selling Something Might Happen, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize. In the words of the Observer, she 'has a talent for making the unthinkable readable. The results are riveting.'

A sweetly corrupt exploration of the childhood fantasy of running away... Myerson is a beautiful conjurer of subtly disturbing atmospheres...haunting -- Jane Shilling * Sunday Telegraph * A mythical rite-of-passage novel... mysterious and multi-layered * Independent * Compulsively readable and richly inventive... bittersweet, authentic and loveable * Guardian * Myerson is a surefooted guide along the wobbly line that separates the real from the surreal ... Myerson captures [adolescence] beautifully in Flynn's compelling voice. The opening of the novel is crisp and immediate, the prose simple and direct ...More than just a coming-of-age story, Out of Breath is a timely reminder about the importance of not growing up too quickly * New Statesman * A truly original read, transcending many of the usual boundaries found in fiction * Scotland on Sunday *