Lewis Aldridge is just 10 years old when he loses his mother. Neglected by his distant father and new stepmother, he can’t help but let the grief inside him grow. When he is 17, that pain explodes in an incendiary act of destruction. After serving two years in prison, Lewis returns to a family that does not know how to face him and a town that wishes he would have stayed away. On the outskirts of post-war London, Waterford seems the perfect hamlet. But beneath its polished surface fester cruelty and violence. Lewis is determined to redeem himself, but his efforts are stymied. His stepmother’s attempt to make amends goes dangerously awry, and his relationship with his new boss’s daughters reveals unimaginable secrets. In this brilliant debut Sadie Jones tells the story of a boy who refuses to accept the polite lies of a tightly knit community that rejects love in favor of appearances. Written with nail-biting suspense and cinematic pacing, The Outcast is an emotionally powerful evocation of post-war provincial English society, and a remarkably uplifting testament to the redemptive powers of love and understanding.
Sadie Jones
