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Black Swan Green: Longlisted for the Booker Prize Paperback – 2 April 2007

by David Mitchell (Author)

2,661 ratings

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'ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANTLY INVENTIVE WRITERS OF THIS, OR ANY, COUNTRY' INDEPENDENT

Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and longlisted for the Booker Prize

'Gorgeous'
DAILY MAIL

'Uproariously funny'
EVENING STANDARD

'Spellbinding'
TATLER

'Brilliant'
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

'Luminously beautiful'
THE TIMES

The Sunday Times bestselling fourth novel from the critically acclaimed author of Ghostwritten and Cloud Atlas

January, 1982. Thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor - covert stammerer and reluctant poet - anticipates a stultifying year in his backwater English village. But he hasn't reckoned with bullies, simmering family discord, the Falklands War, a threatened gypsy invasion and those mysterious entities known as girls. Charting thirteen months in the black hole between childhood and adolescence, this is a captivating novel, wry, painful and vibrant with the stuff of life.

PRAISE FOR DAVID MITCHELL

'A thrilling and gifted writer'
FINANCIAL TIMES

'Dizzyingly, dazzlingly good'
DAILY MAIL

'Mitchell is, clearly, a genius'
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

'An author of extraordinary ambition and skill'
INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

'A superb storyteller'
THE NEW YORKER

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Review

Black Swan Green's 'I love 1982' nostalgia is a glassy, pitch-perfect, mock-innocent surface through which something rotten might appear -- Ali Smith ― Sunday Telegraph

The everyday details of Jason's life are lyrically transformed by the power of Mitchell's prose, which is beguiling, funny, beautifully poetic and always keenly observed. Black Swan Green is just gorgeous ― Daily Mail

Mitchell has written another complex novel, in which multiple themes run like streams of extra data beneath every incident, and understanding comes by the process of reading into a satisfying tangle of metaphor and reference. It is the best kind of contemporary fiction -- M. John Harrison ― Times Literary Supplement

Hugely touching and enjoyable ― Observer

A delight to read from beginning to end ― Sunday Express

Luminously beautiful . . . It celebrates the liberating power of language while reviewing without bitterness or resentment the role that inarticulacy, shyness, even bullying, might play in shaping the future career of a writer -- Ruth Scurr ― The Times

Spry, disconcerting and moving. It is also extremely funny even - or especially - at the blackest of moments ― Observer

A pitch-perfect study of a time and a place ― Sunday Telegraph

David Mitchell's beautiful novel of growing up and learning to accept the fragility of the world shows he can do subtle, slow and moving every bit as well as he did dazzling and mind-boggling in the past works -- Kazuo Ishiguro ― Guardian

What is so impressive about Black Swan Green . . . is how entirely the formal artifice accommodates a naturalistic, and a thoroughly felt, story about human beings. Black Swan Green is, as its protagonist would put it, ace -- Sam Leith ― Literary Review

All the drama and inadvertent comedy of the onset of adolescence are brilliantly laid bare . . . a deceptively easy read, at times uproariously funny ― Evening Standard

Playful and inventive, Mitchell stretches language and ideas with exuberant abandon . . . he inhabits the mind of his troubled teenager with spellbinding conviction ― Tatler

A very fine and tightly structured novel . . . Mitchell pulls off a beautifully ironic piece of ventriloquism; the narrator's voice is pitched perfectly and entirely credibly, the dialogue never falters -- William Wall ― Irish Times

Intricate and beautiful ― Time Out

Alternately nostalgic, funny and heartbreaking . . . Mitchell has a perfect ear for that most calamitous year, the first of the teens, when we come face-to-face with the volatile nature of life ― Washington Post

Brilliant . . . In Jason, Mitchell creates an evocative yet authentically adolescent voice, an achievement even more impressive than the ventriloquism of his earlier books ― New York Times Book Review

In Black Swan Green the most prodigiously daring and imaginative writer in Britain brings his formidable gifts very close to home . . . he makes the well-worn coming-of-age novel feel vivid and uncomfortable and new . . . he's as vital - as shouting and original and central - a voice as the contemporary novel has to offer. He's shown us dazzling power before; here he wins us with vulnerability -- Pico Iyer ― Time

A terrific evocation of a particular time and place and the traumas of a particular age group . . . an oddly beautiful slice of complex life ― Herald

Touching and funny . . . a book that brilliantly captures the awkward intensity of adolescence ― Sunday Times

The family life of the Taylors is achingly plausible, the characters fully drawn, and Mitchell is adept at revealing appalling pettiness as a signifier of larger issues. This is a book about finding strength in unknown places ― Sydney Morning Herald

One of the most endearing, smart, and funny young narrators ever to rise up from the pages of a novel . . . The always fresh and brilliant writing will carry readers back to their own childhoods . . . enchanting ― Boston Globe

This book is so entertainingly strange, so packed with activity, adventures, and diverting banter, that you only realize as the extraordinary novel concludes that the timid boy has grown before your eyes into a capable young man ― Entertainment Weekly

Book Description

Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0340822805
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sceptre
Publication date ‏ : ‎ 2 April 2007
Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780340822807
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0340822807
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 264 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 14.3 x 2.6 x 19.8 cm
Best Sellers Rank: 51,631 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 4,168 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- 4,448 in Contemporary Fiction (Books)
Customer reviews:
2,661 ratings

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David Mitchell

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Born in 1969, David Mitchell grew up in Worcestershire. After graduating from Kent University, he taught English in Japan, where he wrote his first novel, GHOSTWRITTEN. Published in 1999, it was awarded the Mail on Sunday John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. His second novel, NUMBER9DREAM, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and in 2003, David Mitchell was selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists. His third novel, CLOUD ATLAS, was shortlisted for six awards including the Man Booker Prize, and adapted for film in 2012. It was followed by BLACK SWAN GREEN, shortlisted for the Costa Novel of the Year Award, and THE THOUSAND AUTUMNS OF JACOB DE ZOET, which was a No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller, and THE BONE CLOCKS which won the World Fantasy Best Novel Award. All three were longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. David Mitchell’s seventh novel is SLADE HOUSE (Sceptre, 2015).

In 2013, THE REASON I JUMP: ONE BOY'S VOICE FROM THE SILENCE OF AUTISM by Naoki Higashida was published by Sceptre in a translation from the Japanese by David Mitchell and KA Yoshida and became a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller. Its successor, FALL DOWN SEVEN TIMES, GET UP EIGHT: A YOUNG MAN’S VOICE FROM THE SILENCE OF AUTISM, was published in 2017, and was also a Sunday Times bestseller.

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Customers find this book to be a wonderful read, particularly suitable for teenagers, with a compelling narrative that brings up memories of childhood and evokes the 1980s era. The writing style receives praise for its beautifully crafted passages, and customers appreciate the well-crafted characters that spring to life in single sentences. Customers describe the book as funny and sad at times, with strong time and place continuity throughout the story.

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Readability Narrative quality Humor Character development Writing style Nostalgia Pacing Value for money

64 customers mention ‘Readability’64 positive0 negative

Customers find the book highly readable, describing it as a gem and a great pleasure to read, particularly suitable for teenagers.

"...This is a great read if you want to relive the period, with trowel-fulls of period detail, but it is also a touching and funny memoire of that very..." Read more

"Brilliant, as an approximate contemporary of Jason Taylor it brought back lots of memories" Read more

"...So, a good read, but not a Booker winner, much as I would love to see David Mitchell win the big prize sometime..." Read more

"...Well worth the read!" Read more

51 customers mention ‘Narrative quality’44 positive7 negative

Customers praise the narrative quality of the book, describing it as a thought-provoking and riveting coming-of-age tale that is utterly believable.

"An excellent account of the trials and tribulations of a 13 year boy and a nostalgic trip down memory lane back to the 80s." Read more

"...Mitchell's other books - no supernatural element, just a good coming of age story." Read more

"...I just loved everything about Black Swan Green – the characters, the content, the style, the setting, the local dialect, the humour and the..." Read more

"...And to be honest, while "Black Swan Green" is a solidly satisfying and frequently moving read, which successfully captures both the mood of the..." Read more

24 customers mention ‘Humor’20 positive4 negative

Customers find the book humorous, describing it as a great bitter-sweet novel that is both entertaining and sad at times.

"...Funny, sad, moving - just brilliant - I can't recommend it highly enough. I'd compare it to "Catcher in the Rye" - but it's better." Read more

"A funny, touching narrative voice makes a delightful insight into this 13year old boys head...." Read more

"Another great bitter-sweet novel from David Mitchell...." Read more

"...the content, the style, the setting, the local dialect, the humour and the nostalgia...." Read more

21 customers mention ‘Character development’21 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the well-crafted characters in the book, finding them thoroughly realistic and convincingly portrayed, with one customer noting how they spring to life in a single sentence.

"...I just loved everything about Black Swan Green – the characters, the content, the style, the setting, the local dialect, the humour and the..." Read more

"...and paragraphs that were highlighted in my Kindle and the characters felt so real to me...." Read more

"...time and if it is not somewhat autobiographical then its a very convincing character that Mitchell has created in the form of Jason...." Read more

"...So 3 highly acclaimed books in, he writes a very linear book in one voice in one place about 13 year old Jason Taylor who lives in Black Swann Green..." Read more

20 customers mention ‘Writing style’20 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the writing style of the book, with beautifully written passages and one customer noting the dialogue is very redolent of the 80's.

"...In true David Mitchell style, beautifully written, and somehow enabling the reader to experience a roller coaster ride of fun, fear, laughter and..." Read more

"...But he's a class writer, and he's ambitious...." Read more

"...Green – the characters, the content, the style, the setting, the local dialect, the humour and the nostalgia...." Read more

"...In usual Mitchell style the writing is wonderful, there are so many sentences and paragraphs that were highlighted in my Kindle and the characters..." Read more

19 customers mention ‘Nostalgia’19 positive0 negative

Customers find the book nostalgic, evoking memories of the 1980s, with one customer noting how it captures a year through a series of moments.

"...the style, the setting, the local dialect, the humour and the nostalgia. The characters spring to life in a single sentence. “..." Read more

"...of a character arc but it really doesn’t matter – it’s a great snapshot of a point in time and if it is not somewhat autobiographical then its a..." Read more

"Quite mixed feelings on this one. I enjoyed how evocative of the 80s the book was...." Read more

"...It captures a year in a series of moments that shape lives - I guess that what a life is, after all, and I for one became so invested in what..." Read more

12 customers mention ‘Pacing’12 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the pacing of the book, noting its strong sense of time and place, with one customer describing it as a thrilling time machine.

"...cultural reference buttons – food, cars, music – to give a strong sense of time and place...." Read more

"...Funny, sad, moving - just brilliant - I can't recommend it highly enough. I'd compare it to "Catcher in the Rye" - but it's better." Read more

"...honest, while "Black Swan Green" is a solidly satisfying and frequently moving read, which successfully captures both the mood of the mid-80s and..." Read more

"...and also a great amount of wonderfully remembered and observed time-specific detail, which made me curl my toes in delight...." Read more

4 customers mention ‘Value for money’4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book to be good value for money.

"...in the UK in the same time-frame as this book, I found it to be bang on the money...." Read more

"Excellent book. Great quality and definitely value for money." Read more

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Geraldine Croft
Jace's ace!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 February 2024
Verified Purchase

Jason Taylor is Will McKenzie, Adrian Mole and Benjamin Trotter with spokey dokeys on. I just loved everything about Black Swan Green – the characters, the content, the style, the setting, the local dialect, the humour and the nostalgia.

The characters spring to life in a single sentence.
“Alex is seventeen but he’s got bubonic zits and his body’s three sizes too large for him”.
“The man’s lips were gnarled and his sooty hair had a streak of white like combed-in bird crap”.

The cultural references to the early Eighties are spot on and I was instantly transported back to 1982 relishing Findus Crispy Pancakes and butterscotch Angel Delight for tea and finding a furry stick of Wrigley’s juicy fruit chewing gum in my duffle coat pocket.

Adolescent angst - the horrors of school discos, wanting to be one of cool kids but knowing you’ll always be middle-ranking at best, trying to stay well below the radar and finding your parents cringingly embarrassing - was made all too real.

The reported speech had the local Worcestershire accent down to a T and the lyrical language reflecting Jason’s poetic bent was simply heavenly.
“The big field was full of wary ewes and spanking-new lambs. The lambs tiggered up close, bleeping like those crap Fiat Noddy cars, idiotically pleased to see me.”

I read most of this book with a smile on my face and laughed out loud in places.
But it’s not all ha-ha-ha. There’s serious stuff in here too. Coping with and trying to overcome a speech defect, being bullied, marriage break-ups, dementia, dysfunctional families, the personal consequences of the Falklands War and life-changing motorbike accidents. A little bit of everything.

This was my first David Mitchell novel and I hit pay dirt.
I can’t recommend Black Swan Green highly enough.

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Geraldine Croft

Jace's ace!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 February 2024
Jason Taylor is Will McKenzie, Adrian Mole and Benjamin Trotter with spokey dokeys on. I just loved everything about Black Swan Green – the characters, the content, the style, the setting, the local dialect, the humour and the nostalgia.

The characters spring to life in a single sentence.
“Alex is seventeen but he’s got bubonic zits and his body’s three sizes too large for him”.
“The man’s lips were gnarled and his sooty hair had a streak of white like combed-in bird crap”.

The cultural references to the early Eighties are spot on and I was instantly transported back to 1982 relishing Findus Crispy Pancakes and butterscotch Angel Delight for tea and finding a furry stick of Wrigley’s juicy fruit chewing gum in my duffle coat pocket.

Adolescent angst - the horrors of school discos, wanting to be one of cool kids but knowing you’ll always be middle-ranking at best, trying to stay well below the radar and finding your parents cringingly embarrassing - was made all too real.

The reported speech had the local Worcestershire accent down to a T and the lyrical language reflecting Jason’s poetic bent was simply heavenly.
“The big field was full of wary ewes and spanking-new lambs. The lambs tiggered up close, bleeping like those crap Fiat Noddy cars, idiotically pleased to see me.”

I read most of this book with a smile on my face and laughed out loud in places.
But it’s not all ha-ha-ha. There’s serious stuff in here too. Coping with and trying to overcome a speech defect, being bullied, marriage break-ups, dementia, dysfunctional families, the personal consequences of the Falklands War and life-changing motorbike accidents. A little bit of everything.

This was my first David Mitchell novel and I hit pay dirt.
I can’t recommend Black Swan Green highly enough.

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Dr. Kenneth W. Douglas
Enjoyable, but can we have our 26th-century Venusians back please?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 November 2006
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The overall consensus on "Black Swan Green" from previous reviews here and elsewhere seems to be "good, but not great". For me, it was very good indeed, with real flashes of greatness, but there are some things that worry me about it. Essentially, David Mitchell seems to have approached it as an exercise in "straight" narration after all the stylistic pyrotechnics (stories-within-stories; disembodied spirits; apocalyptic visions of the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it) which were such a thrilling aspect of all three of his previous novels. As he himself said (in an interview for the Herald newspaper) of the current book while it was still at the work-in-progress stage, "there will be no 26th-century Venusians landing on the village green in this one".

As a committed fan of Mitchell's writing, my initial reaction was "What, not even a baby Venusian? Not even a wee premonition of a Venusian, for goodness' sake?" And to be honest, while "Black Swan Green" is a solidly satisfying and frequently moving read, which successfully captures both the mood of the mid-80s and the timeless sense of loss which accompanies mid-adolescent "coming of age", the absence of Mitchell's previous postmodern storytelling wizardry can only be something of a disappointment for readers who enjoyed his previous books. The use of a first-person teenage narrator means that Mitchell has been forced to alter his style accordingly, which does often produce a haiku-like simplicity but doesn't always come off - sometimes it feels like "dumbing down". Indeed, at some points "Black Swan Green" feels more like the very best of teenage fiction than a novel for the adult-literary-fiction market - which isn't necessarily a criticism.

That being said, this is a solidly enjoyable and often luminous account of Jason Taylor's coming of age in 1980s Home Counties England, against the ominous background of his bullying for a speech impediment, the Falklands War, and the slow disintegration of his parents' marriage. Particular high points for me were the wonderfully eldritch opening chapter in which Jason meets a ghost - or does he just imagine meeting a ghost? - on a frozen pond, and encounters a Witch; and the way in which Jason names and characterises different aspects of his own personality: "Hangman" is his stammer; "Maggot" is his Inner Coward; "Unborn Twin" is his Inner Rebel (there is no cheesy multiple-personalities thing going on here; it's just an uncannily accurate account of the inner monologue of an articulate and self-aware teenager). Aspects I found less convincing included the chapter "Rocks", which uses the ongoing dispute between Jason's parents over a rockery as a rather heavy-handed extended metaphor for Thatcher and Gualtieri squabbling over the Falklands; and the business with the gypsies which similarly came over as a rather over-played metaphor for more international cultural hostilities.

So, a good read, but not a Booker winner, much as I would love to see David Mitchell win the big prize sometime (having made the longlist four times and the shortlist twice, he is very much in the position of "ever the bridesmaid, never the bride" in Booker terms). We KNOW that he can do "straight" narration as well as anyone (the Robert Frobisher section in "Cloud Atlas", for instance, makes that abundantly clear.) On behalf of Mitchell's large fan base, could I make a plea that he give us back our 26th-century Venusians next time?

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S Payne
Another wonderful read by David Mitchell
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 November 2024
Verified Purchase
I would consider myself a David Mitchell fan and I have read a few of his books and really enjoyed them so I was excited to start another of his works.

In this book we are in 1982 with 13-year-old Jason Taylor. Jason lives with his parents and older sister in Home Counties England, against the ominous background of his bullying for a speech impediment, the Falklands War, and the slow disintegration of his parents' marriage.

It feels like Mitchell does an excellent job of getting into the head of an adolescent boy – the trivial obsessions that seem so important, the painful desire to fit in and the not quite understanding of the nuances and undercurrents of the adult world. For anyone who remembers the ’80s he also pushes all the right cultural reference buttons – food, cars, music – to give a strong sense of time and place. As with all good coming of age stories it veers from-laugh-out-loud to toe-curling within a few paragraphs and I was immediately taken by Jason and absorbed into his life. I think there is a lot in this book that people can relate to even if you didn’t grow up in England in the 80’s. In usual Mitchell style the writing is wonderful, there are so many sentences and paragraphs that were highlighted in my Kindle and the characters felt so real to me.

Overall another excellent Mitchell book and I’m trying not to jump straight into the other 3 of his books I have on my Kindle currently!

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Five Stars
Reviewed in India on 16 June 2016
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A Good Read!

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Rick Patterson
Not just a coming of age novel
Reviewed in Canada on 25 November 2012
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Given the current buzz about bullying, particularly in the wake of Amanda Todd's suicide in Vancouver after being subjected to continuous harassment, it's striking to encounter a novel that is about almost every kind of bullying imaginable, from the dog-eat-dog world of soulless work to art criticism to family politics to, of course, the typical muck of public school hierarchies. As the dust cover announces, this is a voice similar to Holden Caulfield's in Catcher in the Rye, but it has no whining self-indulgence; instead, Jason Taylor is an utterly convincing 13-year-old persona from 1982 who describes his Worcestershire world with the eye of a poet but a documentarist's objective vision. Among other joys, this novel ends with some of the finest lines to conclude a book I've ever read. This is John Green for grown-ups.

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Thomas Wehrung
Une histoire lumineuse sur le pouvoir du langage
Reviewed in France on 6 October 2019
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Excellent ! Cet auteur possède une maîtrise absolue du langage. Il se met dans la peau d'un adolescent de treize ans trouvant exactement le jargon des années quatre-vingt. Drôle et profond à la fois.

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Oparazzo
Die Leiden des jungen Taylors
Reviewed in Germany on 4 February 2015
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"Black Swan Green" tut weh, und zwar richtig, und noch mehr, wenn man sich vorstellt, wie viel Selbsterlebtes David Mitchell wohl in die Figur des dreizehnjährigen Außenseiters Jason Taylor hineingeschrieben hat. Die lieblosen Eltern und die herablassende ältere Schwester sind schon schlimm genug, aber noch schwerer hat er es in der Schule: In einem Alter, wo die Reputation unter Gleichaltrigen der Maßstab für das Lebensglück sind, würde er gerne das, was ihm körperlich abgeht, mit seiner Cleverness wettmachen, allein das verhindert seine Stotterei. Bullys machen ihm das Leben zur Hölle, die Lehrer, die das eigentlich merken müssten, mischen sich eher halbherzig ein bzw. stoßen sogar noch ins selbe Horn. Nur sein Freund Dean, Außenseiter wie er, und seine Liebe zur Poesie, die ihm den Rest geben würde, wenn sie denn bekannt würde, helfen ihm durch den Tag. Und natürlich die kleinen Tricks, mit denen er die Klippen seines Sprachfehlers umschifft, zumindest manchmal, aber beileibe nicht immer, und leider meistens dann nicht, wenn es drauf ankommt.

Die Situation spitzt sich im Laufe der Zeit so zu, dass es einem Angst und Bange wird - Jugendliche haben sich schon aus weniger schwerwiegenden Gründen das Leben genommen. Denn weil in manchen Situationen sein Gewissen doch stärker ist als sein Wunsch, anerkannt zu werden, und auch mit einigem Pech stürzt er in freiem Fall die Reputationsleiter hinunter. Man kann das Buch nicht aus der Hand legen, so geht einem Jasons Geschichte an die Nieren.

In die Sprache muss man sich etwas einlesen. Es spricht eben ein Dreizehnjähriger, nicht ganz dialektfrei, vor allem seine "Kameraden" nicht, und streckenweise gibt es mehr Apostrophe als Vokale, aber man gewöhnt sich recht schnell daran.

Es gibt übrigens ein Wiedersehen mit Eva Crommelynck, geb. Ayrs, aus dem Frobisher-Segment des "Cloud Atlas", und Hugo Lamb aus den "Bone Clocks" gibt sich hier schon mal die Ehre als Jasons cooler Cousin. Diese gegenseitigen Referenzen in Mitchells Romanen machen einen Teil ihres Reizes aus, und mit "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet" muss ich noch eine wichtige Lücke schließen.

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Lis Faenza
Deftly crafted, beautifully written.
Reviewed in Australia on 10 May 2016
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David Mitchell never disappoints. I particularly love the way all his works weave together, connected by fragments handled delicately. If you've read The Bone Clocks, you'll love this portrait of teenage of what it was to be young in the UK during the Falklands War, Margaret Thatcher, when kids still played outside and discovered what they were made of.

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Black Swan Green: Longlisted for the Booker Prize Paperback – 2 April 2007

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'ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANTLY INVENTIVE WRITERS OF THIS, OR ANY, COUNTRY' INDEPENDENT

Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and longlisted for the Booker Prize

The Sunday Times bestselling fourth novel from the critically acclaimed author of Ghostwritten and Cloud Atlas

PRAISE FOR DAVID MITCHELL

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Jace's ace!

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5.0 out of 5 stars Jace's ace!

Jace's ace!

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4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, but can we have our 26th-century Venusians back please?

5.0 out of 5 stars Another wonderful read by David Mitchell

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5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just a coming of age novel

5.0 out of 5 stars Une histoire lumineuse sur le pouvoir du langage

5.0 out of 5 stars Die Leiden des jungen Taylors

5.0 out of 5 stars Deftly crafted, beautifully written.

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Jace's ace!

Enjoyable, but can we have our 26th-century Venusians back please?

Another wonderful read by David Mitchell

Five Stars

Not just a coming of age novel

Une histoire lumineuse sur le pouvoir du langage

Die Leiden des jungen Taylors

Deftly crafted, beautifully written.