SuitabookDifference and dehumanisation
Wild Boy is covered in hair, displayed as a sideshow attraction and treated as fundamentally different.
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Book details
Rob Lloyd Jones - Author
This is a suspenseful historical adventure about a boy surviving exploitation through observation and deduction. Its central tension combines a murder accusation with the question of whether someone treated as different can find a better fate.
In the seedy underworld of Victorian London, a boy is born and abandoned. Snatched up by an unscrupulous and abusive showman, Wild Boy, covered in hair from head to toe, becomes a sideshow freak. Isolated from other children and wickedly abused by the cruel master who bought him, Wild Boy becomes an avid observer, developing Sherlock Holmes–like deductive skills. Although he is tormented and insulted, kicked and spat at, his quick mind takes in everything he sees. When a murder occurs at the fair, Wild Boy is hastily accused. Can he use his powers of deduction to save himself? And will the talented and spunky young acrobat Clarissa be with him — or against him? Readers will be swept along by the cinematic pace, immersed in the vivid historical setting, and gripped by suspense as they wait to find out if a better fate could possibly await someone so very different.
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Sign in for personalised guidanceThis is a suspenseful historical adventure about a boy surviving exploitation through observation and deduction. Its central tension combines a murder accusation with the question of whether someone treated as different can find a better fate.
Wild Boy is covered in hair, displayed as a sideshow attraction and treated as fundamentally different.
Wild Boy becomes an avid observer and develops Sherlock Holmes-like deductive skills, then uses them after being accused of murder.
The acrobat Clarissa may be with Wild Boy or against him while he faces the murder accusation.
Before reading, acknowledge that the boy is abandoned, bought, displayed, insulted and physically mistreated. The murder accusation and suspense may add pressure; check in about how these scenes feel as the story unfolds.
This is a grounded book brief while Suitabook strengthens the analysis: the current material supports only a cautious reading; another book-specific source is still needed.
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