Just a Boy

by Maeve Henry

Enoch Kirk is only four but his embittered and religious mother Ellen has already made him feel he is evil. His brother Daniel, crippled after an accident in the mine, loves and teaches him, but he soon dies from pneumonia. His beloved sister Polly has been banished and nobody will tell him why. Her fate haunts him...After Daniel's death, Enoch is sent to stay on Uncle Stephen's farm, where he is treated as a second-class citizen by all except his loving grandfather. Grandad lgnites Enoch's passion for learning, which Enoch sees as his one hope to escape poverty and to find Polly. Then Grandad dies after a lingering illness, leaving his money in trust for Enoch's education. Uncle Stephen is furious and Enoch is sent back to live with Ellen, until one night, she lets slip she is not his real mother...Now Enoch steps up his search for Polly, and for clues to the identity of his true mother. Finally, Ellen is confronted with her cruelty to Enoch, and confesses that Polly is his mother. Enoch manages to find her, and in an exhilarating denouement, Enoch and Polly are reunited and Ellen is forgiven.

244 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2001

About the author

Lives in Oxford, England