Buy Carry Me Down

From the author of the sleeper hit of 2004, How the Light Gets In, comes a formidable follow-up novel about a young boy’s diligent collection of a “log of lies” and the frightening family blowup it causes. Nobel Prize winner J. M. Coetzee called this novel “writing of the highest order.”

John Egan is a misfit—“a twelve year old in the body of a grown man with the voice of a giant”—who diligently keeps a “log of lies.” John’s been able to detect lies for as long as he can remember. It’s a source of power but also great consternation for a boy so young. With an obsession for the Guinness Book of Records, a keenly inquisitive mind, and a kind of
faith, John remains hopeful despite the unfavorable cards life deals him. 

This is one year in a boy’s life. On the cusp of adolescence, from his changing voice and body to his parents’ difficult travails and the near collapse of his sanity, John is like a tuning fork sensitive to the vibrations within himself and the trouble that this creates for him and his family.

Carry Me Down is a restrained, emotionally taut, and sometimes outrageously funny portrait whose drama drives toward, but narrowly averts, an unthinkable disaster.

Three Monkeys Online has a lengthy interview with MJ Hyland, to discuss Carry Me Down in particular, and her work in general.
Some sample quotes:
“On the first reading it should be superficially simple, but engaging, with a strong narrative pull. I intend to give the reader a reason to turn the page, so a good story [...]

Here’s an extract from the review of Carry Me Down published in the English Newspaper The Observer. Geraldine Bedell, a regular reviewer and contributor to The Guardian and The Observer is also the author of a novel, The Gulf Between Us
John Egan is huge, gangling and vulnerable, a 12-year-old child-man on the cusp of adolescence, [...]

Here’s an extract from an interview that Maria did with M.E.Wood, the literary fiction editor of Bella Online when Carry Me Down was published
Moe: What inspires you?
M.J. Hyland: Many things inspire me, especially great films. Most recently I was inspired by the film, Darling, directed by John Schlesinger, starring two of the finest actors of [...]