cover image The Sugar Factory

The Sugar Factory

Robert Carter. Atheneum Books, $0 (142pp) ISBN 978-0-689-11926-2

Good-hearted Harris Berne, a bright and likable young chap from Down Under, is on the mend from a heartrending bout of harsh luck. ""Some of it is pretty disgusting,'' he confides, ``and some of it you probably won't believe.'' In irrepressible style, his off-hand jokes masking a deep despair, Harris relates a series of events, from his epic tantrum at brother Lyndsay's wedding to the palpable guilt and grief he suffers after the wrenching death of a child for whom he is babysitting, and of his time in an uncommon halfway house with other troubled teens. It's a hard way to come of age but makes for a stirring, stunning first novel, which has already earned Australia's Angus & Robertson Fellowship. With wry wit, animated storytelling and a distinctive voice, Carter makes Harris a memorable character. (August)