The Outside Boy is truly charming at times, heartbreaking at others, but always captivating. An atmospheric coming-of-age story set in the world of the Irish travellers, it will stay with you long after you've finished the last page. -Lesley Kagen, author of Land of a Hundred Wonders
In Hibernian society, there's hardly a creature lower than the Irish tinker, a nomadic group 'tis said was driven into the barren country by the fundamentalist Cromwell to starve. Regardless, the modern diminutive hero Christy, in Jeanine Cummins's gloriously poetic novel, will burrow his way into your heart. It's not often I hug a book, but with moist eyes and beginnings of a song in my heart, I followed Christy's journey from a death to hopeful life. Read this lovely book and you will hug yourself. -Malachy McCourt
The Outside Boy is a poignant and magical tale about the travelling people in Ireland, a way of life all but vanished. Cummins captures that world in pitch perfect prose, charming and beguiling till the story nearly breaks your heart. -Keith Donohue, author of The Stolen Child
The Outside Boy is such a powerful read. I identified so strongly with this story of a strange and gorgeous and vanishing way of life. It's an adventure, and, yes, a eulogy, but it's also a full-throated song of praise. I loved it. -Sherman Alexie, National Book Award-winning author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.
A lyrical journey along the twisting path of gypsy life, The Outside Boy is part coming-of-age novel, part mystery, and all heart. It's easily one of the most beautiful and satisfying books I've read this year. -Jennie Shortridge, author of When She Flew
The Outside Boy will charm you, fascinate you, delight you, snake into your heart and bust it wide open. I'm hard pressed to think of a narrator more lovable than Christy Hurley, who describes his lost, beautiful world ? that of the Irish travellers in the late 1950s ? in prose that's as profound as it is funny. What a graceful, perfect book. -Carolyn Turgeon, author of Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story
Jeanine Cummins' debut novel is a multi-layered, meticulously researched journey into the elusive lives of the Irish travellers. Lucky for those of us along for the ride, her dynamic tale unfurls through the singular lens of the clever and charming Christopher Hurley, a wise-beyond-his-years boy coming of age in a tiny corner of history, but trying to answer the most universal of questions: who am I and where did I come from? -T Cooper, author of Lipshitz Six or Two Angry Blondes
You do not need to love Ireland to love The Outside Boy. You only need to love life and to have once been as young and fresh of heart as the book's marvelous narrator. You will enter the rare realm of the travelers, yet feel completely at home, living Christy's youth as if it were your own, laughing with him and feeling his heart race and suffering his hurts and rejoicing at his ultimate triumph. You will reach the last page smiling through tears and give thanks for a writer of uncommon talent. And it will stay with you, making you Irish in the very best way even if you are not.-Michael Daly, author of The Book of Mychal
The Outside Boy has found a permanent home in my head and heart and on the shelf with authors like J.M. Barrie, Roddy Doyle, and Sue Monk Kidd. A flawless coming-of-rage story overflowing with talent, heartbreak, and joy. -Jennifer Belle, bestselling author of Going Down and High Maintenance
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