Every Boy Should Have a Man - Tapa blanda

"A gripping fable spun of threads both old and new." --Sjón, author of From the Mouth of the Whale Every Boy Should Have a Man is James Baldwin meets Aldous Huxley, a twisted contortion of a weird fairy tale future gone wrong, all told from high atop the mountain in a sort of New Testament prose... ambitious yet understated, cautionary while rarely politically preachy. Every Boy Should Have a Man is that rare novel that is derived from such a disparate scope of literary influences that it waxes entirely original." --Chicago Tribune "Allen's concise book's power lies within its understated irony, never more heavy-handed than a preacher's admonition that 'a world without mans is a world without us all.' The plain narrative and relationship between boy and female man, rounded out with humour and occasional (sometimes literal) bite, promises to be a sleeper favourite among speculative audiences." --Publishers Weekly "[A] bizarre but exquisitely composed fable ... Much like Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel Planet of the Apes, this novel is a sardonic parable on the nature and destiny of the species. A nimble fable whose bold narrative experiment is elevated by its near-biblical language and affectionate embrace of our inherent flaws." --Kirkus Reviews "From this point forward, readers consulting any reference work addressing the concept of tour-de force will find there a citation of Preston L. Allen's Every Boy Should Have a Man. It is one thing to devise a fable dealing so adroitly with such concepts as racism, war, religion, and the very nature of civilisation itself, but Allen's true triumph is the infusion of each page and every astonishing episode with palpable emotional resonance. Bravo". --Les Standiford, Author Of Desperate Sons Every Boy Should Have a Man is a wild animal, a melancholy human, a hybrid with fangs and tears, a book that cannot be classified and should never be classified it is a book that I read until late in the night, and then talked about with my daughters, my dog, my friends, and myself. I won't ever look at the daughters, or the dog, or the world, in quite the same way." --Susan Straight, author of Between Heaven and Here "In this new novel, Preston L. Allen writes with an elegance and honesty that make his observations on 'humanity' our common flaws, our insistent dishonesty, our daily failings a psalm, a love song to imperfection, and yet holds onto a firm and astute insight. Beautiful, elegiac, and optimistic." --Chris Abani, author of Graceland

SHORTLISTED FOR THE HURSTON/WRIGHT LEGACY PRIZE "Every boy should have a man. You're a fine son. Love, Dad". Imagine a post-human world where Oafs rule what is left of the planet. Humans have been reduced to a subspecies called mans and are kept as pets. And a boy oaf and his beautiful pet mans will teach us about love, justice and bravery. A poor oaf dreams of having a pet man of his own but every chance seems to be thwarted, until one day he arrives home to find little Red Sleeves on his bed with a note from his father. Fierce, feisty and loyal, with incredible musical talent, Red Sleeves is a perfect pet, and a bond develops between her and the boy oaf as they navigate the harsh, unjust reality of their dystopian world. When Red Sleeves gives birth to a daughter, Red Locks, their lives begin to change, as young Red Locks becomes a symbol of bravery, hope and the possibility of a new world. Every Boy Should Have a Man is an epic fable about love in all its forms, and the unbreakable power of hope, set against the backdrop of poverty, discrimination and environmental destruction. Preston L. Allen has crafted a heart-warming allegory on life's most resonant questions, making it essential reading for our times.