The Darlings — Angela Jackson

A controversial new novel from the winner of the Edinburgh International Book Festival First Book Award. When Mark Darling is 15 years old, he is the golden boy, captain of the school soccer team, admired by all who know him. Until he kills his best friend in a freak accident. He spends the next decade drifting between the therapy couch and dead-end pursuits. Then along comes Sadie. A mender by nature, she tries her best to fix him and has enough energy to carry them both through the next few years. One evening, Mark bumps into an old schoolfriend, Ruby. She saw the accident first hand. He is pulled towards her by a force stronger than logic: the universal need to reconcile one's childhood wounds. This is his chance to, once again, feel the enveloping warmth of unconditional love. But can he leave behind the woman who rescued him from the pit of despair, the wife he loves? His unborn child? This is a story about how childhood experiences can profoundly impact how we behave as adults. It's a story about betrayal, infidelity, and how we often blinker ourselves to see a version of the truth that is more palatable to us.