Binding: Hardcover
Description: Monday Rent Boy begins in Somerset England in the mid - 1980s with the winning and heart - warming story of two 13 - year - old friends and fellow altar boys Arthur Barnes and Ernie Castlefrank. Endearing outcasts they try not to speak of the secret tie that binds them: both boys are routinely preyed on by The Zipper their nickname for Father Ziperto the local Catholic priest. Still they find adventure and release in the mischief they get up to together as each also tries to survive in other ways. Arthur a great reader and denier of reality finds an ally in town bookseller Marina Phillips who sets him on a path that eventually takes him to university and away. Ernie a gifted mathematician and animal lover is not so lucky. As he and Arthur age out of the abuse Ernie notices younger and equally vulnerable boys being recruited. When he tries to blow the whistle nobody believes him. At 16, he disappears a loss that almost destroys his best friend but also confirms for Arthur that he was smart to stay silent. Arthur eventually also turns his back on the mystery of Ernie's disappearance but his bookselling mentor and friend Marina Phillips finds a way to follow Ernie where rage and betrayal has led him - into the darkest corners of the dark web - a search that ultimately helps Arthur reckon with what happened to them both. In the novel's stunning deeply affecting conclusion Doherty draws a line directly from the covered - up abuse of children by Catholic priests to the current proliferation of child pornography and predators online - miraculously revealing the true heart of darkness while managing to affirm the light.
Title: Monday Rent Boy
Author(s): Doherty Susan
Publisher: Random House Canada
Barcode: 9781039006553
Pages: 360 Pages
Publication Date: 3/19/2024
Category: Modern & Contemporary Fiction