Jean

Dunnigan makes a promising debut with this tale of a boy’s secret love affair with a popular male classmate at their English boarding school in the 1970s. Jean, 17, is a loner at the unconventional Compton Manor, where students care for pigs and take turns butchering a cow. The other boys come from wealthy and stable families and seem to have their futures figured out, which makes Jean feel alone, given his complicated relationship with his mother and the fact that he’s never met his father. One day, a well-liked boy named Tom approaches Jean in the pig pen and they begin meeting by the lake to smoke. As the nights at school go on, they become closer and begin experimenting sexually. In groups, Tom ignores Jean, who begins to wonder what he means to Tom, while also fighting to control his angry outbursts. As the character study unfolds, the reader learns of Jean’s troubled relationships with his mother’s boyfriends along with a painful secret kept by Tom, and the tension between the boys plays out over more fraught scenes, including a party where Tom dances with a girl. Throughout, Dunnigan paints a realistic picture of a troublesome teen outcast. There’s plenty to enjoy in this coming-of-age story. (Jan.)