The Best Boy In The World

'Sweeping and sharply observed . . . Farrell moves effortlessly between time and location and his writing is gorgeous and at times wickedly funny. A deeply impressive book' Louise Kennedy, author of Trespasses

Escaping a tempestuous youth, Suzanne flees her native France for England with her young son, Adam. There she marries and gives birth to Rickie, a second boy. The family enjoys a comfortable, stable life in London but Suzanne never truly feels at home.

Adam and Rickie grow up together but develop very different ideas of what it is to be a man. When word comes that Suzanne's mother is dying in France, her two boys put their differences aside and accompany her on one last trip. Thrown together, the brothers begin to find common ground - until one act changes everything. As the family unravels, it is Rickie's wife, Elle, and Suzanne who bear the brunt of Adam and Rickie's toxic sibling rivalry.

The Best Boy in the World is an unflinching interrogation of masculinity, and of how men are taught to behave. It examines how radically different individual experience within a family can be and the conflict this inevitably creates. Moving through generations and across Europe, this story reveals the insidious legacy of trauma and the strength it takes to confront it.