The Last Days of Archie Maxwell — Annabel Pitcher

Hard-hitting and achingly real, this carefully crafted YA novel from the multi-award-winning author of My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece is a moving tale of sexuality, mental health and modern family life.

Dads leave home all the time. It's not that unusual, really. Leon's dad walked out. So did Mo's. But Archie's? Well, that's a different story â€" a story that Archie must keep secret at all cost. Archie knows he should accept Dad for who he is, so he hides his turmoil until he can stand it no longer. With nowhere else to turn, he finds himself at the railway track. The track has been calling to him, promising escape, release. The only problem is, it's been calling to someone else too…

Please note that this book contains mature content (with themes of homophobia, bullying and suicide) and language that some may find offensive.

Reviews

"Delivers thrills and plenty of talking points without being in least patronising" â€" The Letterpress Project

"A dark, unsettling story and totally authentic in the way that it's told" â€" The Bookbag

"Full of love, humour and heartbreak … Annabel Pitcher portrays Archie with real insight and readers will understand completely the agony he feels" â€" LoveReading4Kids

"Brilliant" â€" BookTrust

About the author

Annabel Pitcher's novels My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece, Ketchup Clouds and Silence is Goldfish have won and been shortlisted for heaps of prizes, including the Carnegie Medal. Annabel had the idea for her first book while she was travelling the world and wrote it in notebooks all the way home. Now she is happiest with her husband and two young sons living in the middle of nowhere (Yorkshire, actually), walking her dog and creating her warm-hearted, complex and brilliantly original stories.