And I Loved Them Madly

9780749002619

0749002611

Everyone at the Veda summer camp in update New York is special. Dakota can only communicate in questions to which he knows the answers; William's bowels are special, which is why he arrives with 35 pairs of Calvin Klein underpants; Joshua and Mitchel's relationship is special - they beat each other. 'High Functioning', 'Low Functioning', they're a bunch of crazies - violent, incontinent, incomprehensible, uncomprehending. And Benjamin Ryan is their reluctant counselor. Fresh from Cambridge, callow and uncaring, Benjamin has come to America to bum away the summer. A rude awakening in New York is followed by the greater horrors that are Veda. Yet. During two months, the wanking, wetting, soiling Veda inmates become the most precious people in Benjamin's world; more special than Natasha who loves him, or Gabrielle and Lucien whom he loves. In this stunning debut novel, Matthew Parkhill succeeds in evoking an earthly hell redeemed through unexpected warmth and humanity, but with a terrifying climax that is all too easy to believe.