Becoming Henry

by graham Strugnell

Set in South London during the 1970s, Becoming Henry is a sharply observed, big-hearted and brilliantly funny coming-of-age novel. Henry has grand ideas and even grander ambitions. He longs to be recognised - by his family, his peers, and the world - as the comic genius he believes himself to be.

Told with emotional precision and wry humour, the story traces Henry's life from his earliest memories in a conventional, emotionally constrained household to the brink of adulthood. Raised in a family where tenderness is elusive and communication often tips into absurdity, Henry finds early refuge in his imagination, music, and books.

Adolescence brings Henry's idealised sense of himself clashes with a desperate need for connection - particularly romantic or sexual. As he enters his teens, his desire to be desired, combined with a fear of not being enough, results in a phase of anorexia and self-effacement. He lurches from one misjudged crush to another, suffering social humiliations, but also forming deep bonds with other misfit boys who share his anarchic sense of humour.

With wit, psychological insight and finesse, the novel explores themes of identity, aspiration, class, and masculinity. It captures the ache of wanting to belong while needing to be seen as different - the longing to be both accepted and exceptional - and the lengths one boy will go to in order to matter.

Blending the depth of literary fiction with the accessibility of great storytelling, Becoming Henry is a poignant, funny, and unforgettable portrait of growing up on the fringes.

311 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 23, 2025

Reviews

[Trudy Porter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a thoroughly enjoyable book full of engaging detail and humour.
I found myself to be fully invested in Henry Truffle and his destiny from the very first page where his entry into our world is described with warm wit and skill.
The author's clever and playful, affectionate tone is maintained throughout the novel and created many a smile, and occasionally a wince, as I remembered my own experiences of growing up.
His evocation of life in the '60s and '70s is also spot on. Several times, his seemingly incidental addition of such detail as the little blue flame on his grandma's white water heater brought back forgotten memories of my own childhood home and gave me a sense of warmth and familiarity. This is a book that will engage and delight readers of all ages. We have all navigated the bumpy journey from childhood to adulthood and this intelligent and frankly hilarious account will resonate with everyone.
This was a rich and refreshing read and I was reluctant to finish it. Will there be a sequel? I need to know more about Henry Truffle!

[Claire Steele · Rating 5 out of 5]

A marvellous evocation of life in the 1970s, a mix of eavesdropping, revelation and confession. Becoming Henry is both a bildungsroman and an account of that emergence as a series of precise and arresting vignettes, so it can be read as both conventional novel and something more fragmented and postmodern: the subtle accretions of story that combine to make us who we are. In Henry, Strugnell offers us a way of seeing the past that is brand new, made up of the utterly familiar. Written with candour, wit and a disarming compassion for human frailty, this is a book that delivers its treasure generously and returns us to our own lives with more curiosity, more understanding and maybe more attention.

[Justin Dyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Graham Strugnell is like the Proust of South London. In beautiful jewel-like chapters that you'll want to savour, he vividly conjures up the smells, tastes, and sounds of that familiar yet alien ‘other country’ of England as it moves from the 1960s into the 1970s. He captures a young mind thrown into the world and grappling with class, gender, and the pure strangeness of being alive. It’s full of heart, humour, and poetry. I loved it.

[Jill Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute joy. 'Becoming Henry' is a warm, witty exploration of what it was like to grow up in the 60s and 70s as a bright, troubled and misunderstood boy. The young hero has a powerful sense of his own possibilities… if only his family and teachers felt the same.
This tragi-comic novel is peopled with larger-than-life characters that spring off the page. Incisively and thoughtfully written, it stands up to the best of novels bringing these complicated decades to life.

[Kate Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I found it to be beautiful, lyrical, tender, heartbreaking, funny, honest and joyful. The characters are already in my heart. Will there be a sequel? I hope so!