Board of Life — Andrew Wood

Andrew Wood's compelling second novel is a powerful story of one teenager's lonely descent into alcoholism and depression. Set in the North East of England in 1987, Board Of Life follows Alex Roberts as he graduates from college and embarks on the soul-destroying search for work. Proving more difficult than ever imagined, he inevitably finds himself alone, a drink his only companion. Feelings of isolation deepen as, one by one, all his friends start their own careers. When he is caught up in the murder of a popular pensioner, he soon realises that his loneliness and desperation are just beginning. Barely able to cope with the impossible struggle that every day brings, he is forced down an unbearable path that has devastating consequences…