Monday Rent Boy cover art

Monday Rent Boy

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 Months Free

£5.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Get this deal
Offer ends on 15 July 2026 at 11:59 BST.
More purchase options

Monday Rent Boy

By: Susan Doherty
Narrated by: Simon Blake, Helen Taylor
Get this deal

£5.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £16.61

Buy Now for £16.61

FINALIST FOR THE PARAGRAPHE HUGH MACLENNAN PRIZE FOR FICTION

CANADIAN BOOK CLUB AWARD WINNER

WORD GUILD AWARDS BEST FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR

In the mid-1980s Somerset countryside, two brilliant, misfit teenagers forge a bond that defies their harsh reality.

Arthur Barnes, a dreamer who finds sanctuary in literature, and Ernie Castlefrank, a mathematical prodigy with a fierce empathy for animals, are endearing outcasts whose fierce loyalty becomes their only armor against a world that refuses to protect them.

Guided by a radical independent bookseller Marina Phillips, Arthur learns to survive by looking forward. But Ernie, unable to ignore the sinister patterns he witnesses afflicting vulnerable children, dares to expose a hidden network of exploitation. When the authorities rebuff him and he vanishes without a trace, Arthur is left to bear the crushing weight of his own silence.

Decades later, Arthur has built a fragile adulthood on the foundations of forgetting. But as the digital age lifts the veil on long-buried crimes, the unanswered questions surrounding Ernie’s disappearance demand an answer. With Marina by his side, Arthur discovers a labyrinthine investigation that bridges the analog past with the dark architecture of modern trafficking and institutional complicity.

What unfolds is far more than a missing-person case. It is a visceral excavation of how trauma reverberates across generations, how systems designed to protect us choose to look away, and how the echoes of a single childhood friendship can alter the trajectory of a life.

Monday Rent Boy is unflinching in its gaze at humanity's darkest impulses, yet it is ultimately a celebration of resilience. It is a story about the radical act of speaking up, the redemptive power of chosen family, and the quiet courage it takes to reclaim your voice after decades of silence. Abuse Coming of Age Crime Fiction Friendship Genre Fiction Relationships Sexual Abuse & Harassment Heartfelt Feel-Good
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
All stars
Most relevant
A very well written book with excellent naration on a truly awful topic of sexual abuse of children. Lots of triggers

Difficult Subject

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I never read or listened to the preview of this book I just dived straight in.
I have read hundreds of books.
I don't really write reviews because I lack skills to actually get my thoughts on paper.
I felt I had to this time.
The characters,the flow and narration of this book is brilliant.
it truly is an upsetting story,yet warmth radiates from a small book shop.
The knowledge and understanding of this soul destroying sickness of both the victims and the criminals is sublime.
I wish these things didn't happen.but sadly they do and it destroys life's of many..I know that for certain.

can't believe this is the first review

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.