A. J. Braithwaite

Review: The Roman and The Runaway by A. J. Braithwaite.

I enjoyed this young adult book and found it enlightening. The author’s writing was pretty simple and could have used more descriptive words, some minor formatting, and above all something to lore the reader to some kind of surprise, like, “OK, I’ve gotcha!” but at least there was a story to tell.

The story started out with Luke, a young teenage boy having difficulty at school. He ends up having a few spats with his Dad who has been hard on him for some time. His parents decide to send him to a boarding school after summer break. Luke seems to get through the summer with little trouble with the help of an older neighbor, Ned. Luke seems to like Ned because Ned gets him interested in the environment, nature, etc….

Then the story moves on to Luke trying to adjust to a boarding school life. He made new friends but he still was getting himself into trouble. It seemed like trouble followed him wherever he went. His first trip to the dean’s office was a surprise that he knew nothing about….

Than later in the area of the boarding school he meets Pagan, a runaway girl and tells nobody. He becomes friends with her and she shows him where she is hiding out in the woods….Luke involves her into one of his pranks that he’s going to try and pull off at the school against another group of boys…. But now, once again he gets himself into trouble, yet he still keeps Pagan a secret while he’s standing in the Dean’s office trying to explain himself out of detention….

Luke makes one last attempt to see Pagan in the woods at her make-shift tent. When he arrives she is cooking some soup and shares it with Luke. They end up doing some mild kissy-kissy stuff and then he noticed he was going to be late for detention. He left quickly and headed back to the school….and again he’s finds himself in trouble. Feeling bad that he has disappointed the Dean he goes back to his room and goes to bed. That night the unthinkable happen to Luke and he finds himself almost crawling to the Deans room not feeling well….while out in the woods Pagan is also doubling over with pain with no one near to help her…the story goes on to serious issues progressing to the end of the book.
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