Roddy Doyle’s funny and poignant novel about a young boy trying to make sense of the world won the Booker Prize in 1993.

It is 1968. Patrick Clarke is ten. He loves Geronimo, the Three Stooges, and the smell of his hot water bottle. He can’t stand his little brother Sinbad. His best friend is Kevin, and their names are all over Barrytown, written with sticks in wet cement. They play football, lepers, and jumping to the bottom of the sea. But why didn’t anyone help him when Charles Leavy had been trying to kill him? Paddy sees everything, but he understands less and less.

Winner
The Booker Prize 1993
Published by
Secker & Warburg

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Roddy Doyle

Roddy Doyle

About the Author

Roddy Doyle is the author of 11 novels, a collection of stories, and Rory & Ita, a memoir of his parents.
More about Roddy Doyle

Other nominated books by Roddy Doyle

The Van