Davey Darling

by Paul Shannon

Davey lives with Tiny, his hard-case, beer-drinking father, and Thelma, his long-suffering, tea-drinking mother. Davey is a bit of a hard case himself, constantly getting in trouble with the local bully and giving everyone plenty of lip. The act of violence that follows his discovery in the woodshed sends Davey down a troubling path of choices. He knows he should choose the moral option, but then will his family survive?

In this classic coming-of-age novel, Paul Shannon vividly evokes life in the working-class suburbs of the South Island in the 1970s. Davey's tough and often humorous voice of rapidly diminishing innocence recounts a tale of strife and independence, full of the ambiguities of becoming an adult.

255 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006