The Other Boy — Allie Cresswell

Rosie and her son Matthew have fallen on hard times. Rosie's husband has left them for another woman and lost his job as a consequence of his adultery. A combination of debts and negative equity has meant a move from an affluent development backing onto a golf course, to a run-down estate of social housing. Although she has sold the car and increased her hours at Bridge House, there isn't the money to pay Matt's school fees and he has had to move to the local comprehensive. Coming to terms with all the changes hasn't been easy for Matt. He doesn't fit in at the new school and the wild, ungoverned estate lads seem like creatures from another planet. At first the victim of their cruel and thoughtless bullying, and later in rebellious fascination, he becomes embroiled with their anarchic gang. But their world, on the ragged edges of civilization, is full of dangers and pitfalls which soon threaten to suck Matt under as he wrestles with his anguish over his father's defection, and, worse still, his bitter envy of the new boy in his father's life.