Carry Me Down - Couverture souple

Eleven-year-old John Egan has an unusual talent: he can tell when people are lying. John hopes that one day his gift will guarantee his entry into the Guinness Book of World Records. Until then, he must navigate the powerful and destructive undercurrents of his loving but fragile family.

When John and his parents move to the council-flat slums of Dublin, John finds himself in a perilous world. Even his relationship with his mother—a bond that is peculiarly close—begins to break down. Amid the confusion of shifting landscapes and loyalties, he can rely only on his ability to detect lies. But John’s obsession for discerning the truth becomes a violent and frightening fixation.

As she did in her internationally acclaimed debut, How the Light Gets In, M. J. Hyland introduces us to a character whose voice is immediate, compelling and real. Simply told and beautifully written, Carry Me Down is a singular tale of disturbed love.

Eleven-year-old John Egan knows he has a special gift: he can tell when people are lying. Their untruths set his eyes stinging and his stomach heaving. John thinks that one day his gift will make him famous and guarantee entry into the the Guinness Book of World Records. Until then, he has to navigate his father's anger and his mother's abrupt and confusing changes between treating him like a little boy and a then like a man. When the family is forced from their rural cottage into the council-flat slums of Dublin, John discovers that the lies that make him sick are also shielding him from the truth that threatens to destroy his family.

    A portrait of a boy who is a contradiction between aching vulnerability and a menacing anger fuelled by pain, Carry Me Down is a raw, beautiful read, another intensely profound and powerful story from a writer to watch.