The spider truces

Ellis is a quirky soul - awkward, sensitive and with an often embarrasing habit of speaking his thoughts out loud. Between early attempts at relationships, building jobs, flat-sharing and drug-addled nights on the beach, he muddles his way towards adulthood. Family banter is Ellis' lifeline - a counterpoint to the constant heartache of his desire to know something, anything, about his mother. Set against the background of 1980s rural Kent, Connolly's novel is a moving portrait of growing up.