In 1935 a small boy is found in a mine in what is known as the Belgian
Congo. It is a time of ferment; nefarious forces are at play. Against
this backdrop, the boy's discovery draws the attention of men of
distinction across the globe - scientists, politicians and army men.
Soon enough a race begins, to bring the boy into safe custody. After a
tortuous journey by train through the continent of Africa, the boy
travels by ship to New York, where he is taken into the care of the
United States Army. From here our diminutive hero will become swept up
in a narrative not of his own making, a narrative that will lead him
into the heart of one of the most devastating events of the twentieth
century.
Audacious in its conceit, thrillingly readable and profoundly humane,
Little Boy is a novel of science and politics, of men and war, of
compassion and becoming. In prose of baffled grace, it weaves a path
through some of the darkest moments in our collective history. Its
ending will leave you, like its protagonist, suspended in mid-air,
stunned by the awful things that men have put forth into the world.
