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Boys Don't Cry
Boys Don't Cry
Dec 29, 2025 10:02 AM

Author:Malorie Blackman

Boys Don't Cry

In Boys Don't Cry, bestselling author Malorie Blackman explores the unchartered territory of teenage fatherhood.

You're waiting for the postman - he's bringing your A level results. University, a career as a journalist - a glittering future lies ahead. But when the doorbell rings it's your old girlfriend; and she's carrying a baby. Your baby.

You're happy to look after it, just for an hour or two. But then she doesn't come back - and your future suddenly looks very different.

Malorie's dramatic new novel will take you on a journey from tears to laughter and back again.

Reviews

An extraordinary book, and truly is Malorie Blackman at her best

—— Guardian

Blackman's emotional intelligence is such that Boys Don't Cry should be read aloud in every secondary school

—— The Times

Her writing at its best, creating characters and a story which, once read, will not easily go away

—— Independent

Blackman grapples with contemporary issues without ever letting them overwhelm the story and characterisation. A winner

—— Financial Times

This is an adroit investigation of family relations, very clearly portrayed

—— Daily Telegraph

A blisteringly funny and razor sharp satire about social media, celebrity and political correctness. I laughed SO much

—— Hannah Beckerman

Sharp, funny, and beautifully written, but it's also a brilliant reflection on the landscape we now live in

—— Sunday Times bestselling author, Joanna Cannon

Great rollicking story-telling ... a terrific novel for our times.

—— Reader's Digest

'Hugely enjoyable'

—— Good Housekeeping

John Boyne is at his wicked best... Excruciatingly funny

—— Saga

A funny, biting satire on the excesses and hypocrisy of social media

—— Sunday Independent

Relentlessly funny

—— Irish Independent

Plenty of laugh out loud moments . . . This is a sharp and extremely funny page-turner

—— Business Post Magazine

Uproariously funny. The world has never needed satire more urgently and Boyne delivers in spades.

—— The Sunday Times

Fun, fierce and furious, The Echo Chamber is a riotous read that is not to be missed.

—— Sunday Express

[Boyne] is an incredibly versatile author...[this] is a brilliant read...a sharply satirical novel...so current, so relevant, absolutely hilarious

—— New Books

Biting and very funny

—— The Times

[Intimacies] specificity comes to feel universal... the narrator's atomised experiences, her inability to forge a coherent narrative from her life, will feel compellingly strange as the pages rapidly turn - but also uncomfortably familiar, the book's final intimacy being the one between narrator and reader.

—— Chris Power , Guardian, *Book of the Day*

Mysterious and compelling

—— Jason Cowley , New Statesman, *Books of the Year*

Kitamura's...language is measured with extreme care, to maximise a sense of the complex, ambiguous and multiple... an effect that proves spellbinding.

—— New Statesman, *Books of the Year*

Intimacies... completely revamped the way I thought about fiction, What would it mean to write without all the tricks that a write can so easily hide behind?

—— Jessica Zhan Mei Yu , White Review

Intimacies is an existential thriller laced with tensions on both personal and political levels.

—— Bristol Mag

An elegant study of the rewards and dangers of intimacy... Kitamura's subtle and perceptive novel glitters with insight into language love and the way we interpret others

—— Daily Mail

Deft and sharply written, with a beautiful rhythm and clear voice, it's one of my favourite novels of the past few years.

—— Caleb Azumah Nelson, author of OPEN WATER , Observer, *Summer Reads of 2023*

Outstanding, hotly anticipated thriller...an exceptionally satisfying plot.

—— Amanda Craig , The Times

A great thriller with an ending that I absolutely loved and one I would recommend for boys and girls both young and old. This is one of those stories that makes you question what is really important and will make you feel grateful for the things you have. A thought provoking and fun read that will take you on an emotional roller coaster and I'm looking forward to reading more from Andy Mulligan.

—— Sarah's Book Reviews

Wonderful - an exciting story with engaging characters told in a clever way with spare but lyrical prose. And underneath it all is a seam of social comment that isn't in the least bit tub-thumpy but that does bring awareness and a real understanding of life for dumpsite children across the world. Trash comes highly recommended by me, and I don't have time to say any more about it because I'm off to read it again. And after that, I might read it again. And then again. You read it too.

—— Jill Murphy , The Bookbag

Full of mystery and intrigue, Trash is a page-turning tale of corruption and cunning and valour...For a relatively slim volume, this is a book with major impact. It's a book that forges an emotional bond with the reader; a book that, if you're anything like me, will draw you in and make you care - really care - about the outcome.Trash expands our worldview and pushes the limits of our experience. It's gripping and humbling and filled with lifelike characters you'll take to your heart. It's an amazing journey. I loved it, and I'd urge anyone to pick up a copy. This one's unforgettable.

—— I Was A Teenage Book Geek

I absolutely loved this book! A great storyline that will keep you hooked...The characters and their situation stayed with me for a long time after I had finished this book and I think that everybody should read this amazing, awe-inspiring, thought-provoking novel!

—— Chrissie's Corner

Every now and then a book sneaks up on the unsuspecting public, with very little fanfare, and hits you where it hurts the most - in the heart. Trash is one such book

—— Book Zone 4 Boys

Andy Mulligan has moved from the English countryside to a Latin American slum for his follow up to the school story Ribblestrop. TRASH is a thriller with moral weight and a complex structure..... Without ever moralising, Mulligan raises issues of corruption, poverty, waste and excess in an exciting, but also grimly sad tale.

—— Suzi Feay , The Financial Times

Headlong and heart-stopping, this is an adventure you just can't put down.

—— Julia Eccleshare , Love Reading 4 Kids

Get Trash and get reading.

—— The Bookwitch

If you read one book this year, just a single one, make sure you read Trash...it is a book which you will enjoy reading, where you will learn things and which will make you think. We definitely need more books like this.

—— Portrait of a Woman

There is danger, and action, and periods of lying low- the tension is well developed and the climax gloriously appropriate. This was a very exciting read, and I certainly recommend it.

—— Diana Barnes , Write Away

An extremely good book

—— Evie (age 13) , Chicklish

Trash is such a heartfelt and poignant book to read. It makes you think about injustice and poverty. It makes you realise how different your own life is to so many other peoples all across the world. But above all, it is a gripping mystery which keeps you guessing until the very end.

—— The Bookette

Trash is, quite simply, one of the best books of the year. The buzz about it is incredible and it really does live up to the hype. It's a truly unique novel and I can guarantee you won't have read anything like it before. It will stay with you for weeks after reading - I still haven't forgotten one detail and I can't help but keep rereading it. The story is so complete and perfectly executed; you can't get to the end of this one without being moved...Mulligan has such a beautiful way with words and a great turn of phrase, everything flows so perfectly and it's so hard to put Trash down half way through the story. As soon as the pace slows enough for you to catch your breath you're rocketing forward again. Brilliant. Truly exciting stuff I can assure you.

—— Writing from the Tub

This isn't a comfortable book, in the sense that it doesn't hide behind its fiction. These three boys live an upsetting life, and this is true of children in Latin-American countries. We are forced to address this issue throughout and I read the book humbled and very keen to read more from Andy Mulligan. If you want a book that will stay with you and mean something to you, then I would highly recommend this.

—— 5 Minutes Peace Blog

a heart capturing tale

—— Nayu's Reading Corner: http://nayusreadingcorner.blogspot.com/2010/09/trash-by-andy-mulligan.html

In alternating and tightly paced points of view, supplemented by occasional other voices, the boys relate the intrigue in which they're quickly enmeshed. It all adds up to a cracker of a thriller. , a zippy and classic briefcase-full-of-money thrill ride.

—— Kirkus Review USA

This is an intriguing teenage read with some important environmental messages in it.

—— PD , Bury Free Press Series

There is so much to admire in this story that it is hard to know where to start! ... It is not often that such important messages are wrapped up in such a genuinely thrilling adventure.

—— http://www.readingzone.com/index.php?zone=sz&page=book&isbn=9780385619011

Its appeal lies in its ability to make you fall in love with the characters, and assist them on an exciting, unpredictable journey of hopes and dreams.

—— Wondrous Reads

Andy Mulligan has created something stunning, it's beautifully written, captivating and very entertaining. I love how you never know what is going to happen until it's actually happened - bits and pieces being revealed as the story continues. Each moment has been placed with care on Mulligan's part and makes for a fantastic reading experience.

—— Empire of Books

Bernardo is the most touching hero, though Raphael, in Andy Mulligan's Trash, would give him a run for his money. Living and working on a mountain of rubbish, Raphael finds a small bag that the police are after. With only their wits to help them, Raphael and his two friends go on the run in an exciting thriller about justice and courage pitted against ruthless corruption that takes readers into perilous places and prepares them for Oliver Twist.

—— Amanda Craig , The Times

Regardless, Trash is a book everyone should read. I mean it - everyone! No one can read this and say he (or she) did not take anything away from it. Andy Mulligan's Trash is one of those books that shows a picture of exactly how life is in places we don't know, but we should care about.

—— Girls Without a Bookshelf

Thought-provoking, uplifting and hopeful, this is a book that lifts readers into an entirely different world.

—— Stacia Briggs , Norwich Telegraph

...Trash by Andy Mulligan, which is a(n)...inventive story of three friends living on a rubbish site discovering a leather bag full of secrets and clues they have to solve before the baddies get them...This is great stuff: taut, plausible and thought-provoking.

—— Toby Clements , The Daily Telegraph

...intriguing mystery...the descriptions are brutal and graphic...Exciting and fast moving as the story is, it also tugs at your heartstrings and reminds the reader that there are many young people for whom this way of life is reality. Unmissable!

—— Pat Tate , Carousel

English teacher Andy Mulligan has produced a rip-roaring adventure, Trash, for aged nine-plus, featuring three street boys who discover a key that unlocks a gripping mystery.

—— Rachel Carlyle , S. (Supp. to Sunday Express)

What could have been glum and preachy is actually a brilliant book I cannot recommend highly enough.

—— Charlie Higson , The Mail on Sunday

This is a powerful and gripping story that takes us into some painful places, but makes us believe that transformation is possible - that the vulnerable and weak can sometimes triumph against a whole system. I would very highly recommend it.

—— Armadillo Magazine

And finally a novel for young readers, Trash by Andy Mulligan, a life-affirming story told in multiple voices and set in the slums and rubbish heaps of Manila. Often funny, more often very moving, this is one of the treasures of 2010's young adult market.

—— John Boyne , The Gloss

A humbling scenario, all too recognisable around the world.

—— Jan Lee , The Oxford Times

Trash, a novel about children in a lawless Third-World country, has been dropped from the Blue Peter Book Awards shortlist because of worries that a police interrogation scene involving torture might upset younger readers. What's the problem? Children's appetite for a gruesome read knows no bounds. Havn't the Blue Peter bods ever heard of Hansel and Gretel, Struwelpeter, or a young chap by the name of Harry Potter?

—— Vanessa Feltz , Daily Express

While readers will delight in the excitement and adventure of this story, they will also learn about the poverty and difficulties faced by many children throughout the world and about the consequences of corruption in government.

—— Marianne Saccardi , Greenwich Citizen

Read it, then read it to your child.

—— Scribbled Thoughts of a Mad Woman

One of the most exciting and original novels of the year...It's a tight, thrilling story, told from various characters' perspectives and has a 'Slumdog', ­feel-good pulse beating through it. A genuine treasure find.

—— Sally Morris , The Daily Mail
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