Boy Swallows Universe
Eli Bell is growing up in the rough outer suburbs of 1980s Brisbane, a boy trying to make sense of a world that keeps handing him impossible things. His mute older brother August writes prophecies in the air, his beloved babysitter is a legendary escape artist and convicted killer named Slim Halliday, his mother and stepfather deal heroin, and the family drifts ever closer to the city's violent criminal underworld.
When one catastrophic act shatters his family, Eli is thrown into a coming-of-age odyssey through jail visits, drug lords, tabloid newsrooms, and first love, all the while trying to become a good man and rescue the people he loves. Part gritty crime story, part tender family drama, the novel is shot through with a streak of magical possibility that blurs the line between the miraculous and the merely unlikely.
Trent Dalton's semi-autobiographical debut became an Australian phenomenon and a hit television series. Boy Swallows Universe is a big-hearted, propulsive story about brotherhood, resilience, and finding wonder in the hardest of circumstances.
A resourceful boy growing up amid crime and hardship in 1980s Brisbane.
Eli's older brother, who does not speak but seems to know things.
Eli's babysitter, a legendary escape artist and convicted killer.