A Ladder to the Sky

by John Boyne

noticed a familiar face staring out from the non-fiction titles, the younger version of a man he had once known very well. It was a biography of Dash Hardy, the first, as far as he knew, that had been written about the American writer. The author’s name was unfamiliar to him. And the book itself

originally part of the Edmund White quote, and indexed, but then

‘There’s a good chance that, when you’re a teenager and complaining about how I’ve ruined your life, you’ll bring this up and

His breath caught a little and he reached into his bag for his inhaler,

nursing a pint for about two hours while reading one of the Great Works of Literature. I’d seen him make his way through Anna Karenina, Moby-Dick, Crime and Punishment. Cheap paperback

from a Penguin Classic for which I’d written the introduction, and he flipped past those six or seven pages without reading

it was

Serpentine,

between my son and this boy was uncanny. ‘What was that?’ I asked, snapping back to the moment, unsure whether I’d heard him

here and talk with you.’ ‘It’s my round,’ I said, standing up and telling myself not to invent things. After

died.’ Theo sat back in the chair and stared at me. ‘Christ,’ he said. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize.’

back to Garrett. ‘Including, of course, our friend Maurice here.’

have

actions. But was Erich honest with me? Let’s face it, if I had been two hundred pounds overweight

off. ‘You’ve written that you killed her,’ he said, turning and sliding his finger along the top

at

uncle?’ ‘Because I wanted to succeed,’ I replied, beginning to feel the shame of my actions at

away. ‘Wait!’ I shouted, but he was already halfway towards the door. ‘Daniel!’ I roared at the