A Different Class

Book excerpt: Follow our hero on the roller-coaster ride that was his boyhood. From humble beginnings in a small coal-mining community, where life was largely idyllic, Joel is thrust into the alien environment of a plush boys' boarding school and things begin to unravel. As if on cue the Falklands Conflict touches Joel's life. A life already in a downward spiral due to isolation, bullying, and frequent beatings at school and at home. Disaster followed disaster as the once peaceful village becomes a war zone when a national strike turns friends and family against one another. Starved of affection both at home and at school, Joel's one friend blurs the lines of friendship and love, can friendship endure once innocence is lost? Will Joel sink or swim? Whatever happens he was certain not to go down without a fight.