Tom Boler

The prequel to my debut novel, Boxy an Star. Published in Russian translation by Russian pubilsher AST. To be translated into Italian and published by Newton & Compton Editori.

“Daren King has written a book so achingly vulnerable that you want to put your arms around it. You want to reach through the fragile membrane of prose and pages to pull Tom out.”

Helen Brown, The Telegraph

“Words can anaesthetise the unbearable and excuse the inexcusable, but Tom’s language invents a fresh way of using words with precision, honesty and innocence. Part of King’s achievement is that this language is so contagious; after reading Tom Boler, you will find your own words tending that way, too.”

Sam Thompson, The Guardian

“Left to fend for himself, on an odyssey into a grown-up world which he dimly comprehends, Tom puts his trust in a series of adults who aid or abuse him. The last of them is Boxy, the dealer who supplies Tom with his first pills, at which point King’s prose turns into a kind of beautiful autistic poetry. He’s a writer with a completely unique voice, and Tom Boler is another polished gem of comedy and pathos.”

Laurence Phelan, The Independent

From left to right:
~Jonathan Cape 2005 UK paperback and Vintage 2006 UK paperback
~AST 2006 Russia hardback