Tom BolerThe prequel to my debut novel, Boxy an Star. Featured in Time Out’s book 1000 Books to Change Your Life. Published in Russian translation by Russian pubilsher AST. To be translated into Italian and published by Newton & Compton Editori. |
“I bought this because I loved Daren King's Jim Giraffe.
This is mannered and otherworldly and some people will doubtless hate it. I loved it. It's amoral and dark and yet moving and funny too. I like Daren King a lot.”
Dave Gorman
“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
“Daren King creates truly beautiful poetic images. Fans of Boxy an Star will love these vibrant adventures full of youthful zeal and experimentation.” Scotland on Sunday
“A pinball machine of surreal outrages.” 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 |
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From left to right:
~Jonathan Cape 2005 UK paperback and Vintage 2006 UK paperback ~AST 2006 Russia hardback |