Boy Swallows Universe

Here’s another tantalizing underdog story, this time about a 12-year-old boy coming of age under impossible circumstances, and he does it with such innocence and goodness and almost poetic thoughtfulness that you can’t help but love him.

Our young hero is Australian. His task: Save his mother from disaster, face off against a powerful and violent drug dealer, and find his way into a career in journalism, all the while relying for friendship and advice on an escaped convict.

Dalton’s novel is thrilling, heartbreaking, and heartwarming all at once.

Equal parts quirky, literary, humorous, and touching, Dalton’s debut novel won him a record four Australian Book Industry Awards in 2019, and it’s not hard to see why. Boy Swallows Universe follows the ups and downs of teen protagonist Eli’s descent into a world of drug-lords and prison barons, all while caring for his messed-up parents and mute brother and seeing the world in a uniquely beautiful way. Ex-journalist Dalton’s prose will sometimes take your breath away in this modern classic about life in the far-outer suburbs of Brisbane, Australia, where a ‘normal’ life seems simultaneously too far away and… show more.