Chosen Boys

How can a community face up to the ultimate betrayal?

He wonders how big God's hand is. If he has an eye that can see the whole world in a glance, his hand must be big enough to reach out of the sky and pluck him up with his giant fingers.

It is 1974 and seven-year-old Jack leads a carefree life, playing in his Auckland street. But when a new priest selects him to train as an altar boy, Jack's world is imperilled and he shrinks away from his community, his friends and his mother. Chosen Boys explores what happens to a community when they are betrayed by those meant to care for their spiritual wellbeing.

Set in a working-class Catholic community against the backdrop of the dawn raids, Molloy's moving debut novel asks the question: who will act when a predator declares himself 'another Christ on Earth'?

Featured in the 23 September New Zealand newsletter.
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