We Own the Sky

This impressive debut from Allnutt doggedly recounts a young family’s tragedy. Between programmer Rob Coates’s relentless optimism, his auditor wife Anna’s knack for order, and their son Jack’s joyful demeanor, their life in London is happy and full of love. But when a tumor is found in Jack’s brain, the bonds of the marriage are tested. After Jack is given a year to live, Rob becomes intrigued by an experimental treatment he learns about from an online forum. Though Anna isn’t interested in pursuing it, Rob goes behind her back while she is away and takes Jack to the clinic in Prague. But the questionable treatments administered to Jack only worsen his health. As his marriage crumbles, Rob becomes determined to atone for his mistake by making sure no one else is hurt by the bogus clinic. Rob’s experience as a father of a child stricken with cancer is punishing, marked by a desperate belief that a cure is just around the corner, frustration with well-meant and poorly delivered sympathy, and renewed appreciation for the smallest comfort and kindness. The resulting story is tender and raw, spun in pragmatic prose as personal as a friend’s heartfelt admissions, with turns as unexpected as life itself. (Apr.)