Giant
A story of friendship across the class divide, the importance of creativity and an insight into the early life of novelist C. S. Lewis are the main themes of this delightful novel for eight- to eleven-year-olds.
In 1908 Belfast, Davy is twelve, and that’s the right age for a working-class boy to start earning a living, especially as his father is ill and the family are struggling. Davy’s mother takes him to the house where she works – the middle-class home of C. S. Lewis – known to his family as Jacks. At this point though, Jacks, future writer of the Narnia chronicles, is a boy of ten. Davy thinks Jacks is very odd. He’s always got his head in a book or is writing stories. However, when Jacks points out that the hill overlooking Belfast looks like a giant, this fires Davy’s imagination. The boys become friends and revel in their own world of make believe. This allows Davy to realise he has a talent as an artist.
But the grown-up world starts to intrude. How can Davy possibly use his artistic abilities for a job – he needs to know his place and work in the shipyard like his ailing dad. Tragedy strikes for Jacks and that pulls the two boys further away from each other. Will they be able to retain their friendship or will it be too difficult across the class divide?
McQuoid’s novel weaves together the facts of Lewis’s life with an imaginative story of hardship and friendship that shows how important creativity is to all – whether children or grown-ups.
