Josh Stephenson has just turned thirteen, and in the weeks following his birthday he begins experiencing physical changes that alarm him, as well as increasing moments of frustration and anger toward his overworked single mother, and deepening sadness at the fact that his father has so little interest in his life. If all this weren’t enough, Josh’s seventeen-year-old cousin Trudy comes to stay, awakening his anger, but something else as well. In a novel that moves seamlessly between riotously funny and achingly poignant, Icelandic writer Fridrik Erlings offers one of the most honest portrayals of a young teen boy’s sexual awakening and emotional turmoil recently seen in adolescent literature. Erling’s writing is astonishing for its freshness, full of unexpectedly perfect descriptions of relationships, physical desire, and emotional confusion. There is very real agony for Josh, but also—and ultimately—incredible clarity and transcendence as he moves through and beyond the tumult, and finds support and solace from unexpected sources. Terrific characterizations and wonderfully developed relationships also distinguish this laugh- and cry-out-loud novel that is European in sensibility, with its unblinking exploration of everything from sexual desire to religion, but universal in potential appeal. (Age 12 and older)

With passion and humor, an Icelandic author tells the coming-of-age tale of a boy navigating life’s changes in all their angst and ecstasy.

Josh Stephenson’s thirteenth year starts with a baffling sequence of events. His estranged father has just sent him a taxidermied falcon for his birthday. His flirty seventeen-year-old girl cousin has moved into his house, using his bedroom as a passageway and taking bubble baths in the unlockable bathroom. And now he’s gone AWOL from school to escape the locker-room teasing about certain embarrassing anatomical changes. On top of all that, he’s in love, but wondering if dreams of love can ever come true. Hiding out in his secret hollow in a big rock by the sea, Josh tries to figure out once and for all: is his life being sucked into a black hole, or is this just being thirteen?