**Abigail Tarttelin 'is a natural storyteller' (Matt Haig, METRO), and she has written 'a poignant, brave and important book' (S.J. Watson) about a young boy coming to terms with being intersex.**
Max Walker: blue-eyed boy or girl next door?
To the outside world, Max Walker is a golden boy: a loving son and brother, the perfect student, captain of the football team and every girl's dream boyfriend.
But Max was born intersex - neither fully boy nor fully girl. Now something terrible has happened to him, the consequences of which have left him questioning his true identity.
Can the people around him - his girlfriend, his classmates, his ambitious parents - accept him for who he is? Or will Max's secret life tear his world apart?
**'A gripping read' Matt Haig** **'Poignant, brave and important' S J Watson** **'An original read about a young person in an extraordinary situation ... Brave, unique and utterly compelling' HEAT** **'A warmly human coming-of-age story ... [Max's] desperate search for identity is gripping, emotionally engaging, and genuinely unforgettable' BOOKLIST**
**
### From Booklist
*Starred Review* Sixteen-year-old Max is a golden boy. The son of wealthy parents (both are barristers), he is the drop-dead handsome captain of the soccer team, an outstanding student, and one of the most popular boys in his class. He seemingly has it all. But he also has a closely guarded secret that only his family knows. He is intersex (the new clinical term for hermaphrodite). He is literally half male and half female. Max is comfortable with his circumstance, though, until something unthinkable happens, and his and his family’s lives begin to unravel; for the first time, Max begins to regard himself as freakish. “I feel like for years my family has been pretending I’m normal,” he thinks bitterly, “and I’m really not.” Told from six different viewpoints—those of Max, both of his parents, his younger brother, his girlfriend, and his doctor—the novel is a dramatic, thoroughgoing investigation of the complexities of sexuality and gender. Never overly clinical, this is not a case study, but rather, at its heart, a warmly human coming-of-age story, thanks to the fact that Max is such an appealing character. And so his desperate search for identity is gripping, emotionally engaging, and genuinely unforgettable, as, indeed, is this accomplished first novel. --Michael Cart
### Review
Golden Boy is terrific. A poignant, brave and important book S J WATSON, author of Before I Go to Sleep Abigail Tarttelin is a fearless writer. In Golden Boy, she balances a harrowing coming of age with a deeply compassionate portrait of a family in crisis, and the result is sometimes brutal, often tender, and always compelling. This is a gripping and fully-realized novel EMILY ST. JOHN MANDEL, author of The Lola Quartet Abigail Tarttelin has written a novel that goes beyond the page and reaches into a reader's heart and stays there, never to leave, never to be forgotten. Golden Boy is that good of a novel, and Tarttelin is that gifted of a writer. This book simply deserves to be read and treasured LORENZO CARCATERRA, author of Sleepers and Midnight Angels Golden Boy is at once meditative and swift, a coming-of-age tale about the difficulties of growing up amid shame and secrets and success. Abigail Tarttelin writes with a sharp-eyed grace in this fascinating, heartfelt gem of a novel DEAN BAKOPOULOS, author of My American Unhappiness
Description:
**Abigail Tarttelin 'is a natural storyteller' (Matt Haig, METRO), and she has written 'a poignant, brave and important book' (S.J. Watson) about a young boy coming to terms with being intersex.**
Max Walker: blue-eyed boy or girl next door?
To the outside world, Max Walker is a golden boy: a loving son and brother, the perfect student, captain of the football team and every girl's dream boyfriend.
But Max was born intersex - neither fully boy nor fully girl. Now something terrible has happened to him, the consequences of which have left him questioning his true identity.
Can the people around him - his girlfriend, his classmates, his ambitious parents - accept him for who he is? Or will Max's secret life tear his world apart?
**'A gripping read' Matt Haig**
**'Poignant, brave and important' S J Watson**
**'An original read about a young person in an extraordinary situation ... Brave, unique and utterly compelling' HEAT**
**'A warmly human coming-of-age story ... [Max's] desperate search for identity is gripping, emotionally engaging, and genuinely unforgettable' BOOKLIST**
**
### From Booklist
*Starred Review* Sixteen-year-old Max is a golden boy. The son of wealthy parents (both are barristers), he is the drop-dead handsome captain of the soccer team, an outstanding student, and one of the most popular boys in his class. He seemingly has it all. But he also has a closely guarded secret that only his family knows. He is intersex (the new clinical term for hermaphrodite). He is literally half male and half female. Max is comfortable with his circumstance, though, until something unthinkable happens, and his and his family’s lives begin to unravel; for the first time, Max begins to regard himself as freakish. “I feel like for years my family has been pretending I’m normal,” he thinks bitterly, “and I’m really not.” Told from six different viewpoints—those of Max, both of his parents, his younger brother, his girlfriend, and his doctor—the novel is a dramatic, thoroughgoing investigation of the complexities of sexuality and gender. Never overly clinical, this is not a case study, but rather, at its heart, a warmly human coming-of-age story, thanks to the fact that Max is such an appealing character. And so his desperate search for identity is gripping, emotionally engaging, and genuinely unforgettable, as, indeed, is this accomplished first novel. --Michael Cart
### Review
Golden Boy is terrific. A poignant, brave and important book S J WATSON, author of Before I Go to Sleep Abigail Tarttelin is a fearless writer. In Golden Boy, she balances a harrowing coming of age with a deeply compassionate portrait of a family in crisis, and the result is sometimes brutal, often tender, and always compelling. This is a gripping and fully-realized novel EMILY ST. JOHN MANDEL, author of The Lola Quartet Abigail Tarttelin has written a novel that goes beyond the page and reaches into a reader's heart and stays there, never to leave, never to be forgotten. Golden Boy is that good of a novel, and Tarttelin is that gifted of a writer. This book simply deserves to be read and treasured LORENZO CARCATERRA, author of Sleepers and Midnight Angels Golden Boy is at once meditative and swift, a coming-of-age tale about the difficulties of growing up amid shame and secrets and success. Abigail Tarttelin writes with a sharp-eyed grace in this fascinating, heartfelt gem of a novel DEAN BAKOPOULOS, author of My American Unhappiness