A Child Called It, Dave PelzerDave Pelzer was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother, a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games games that left one of her three sons nearly dead. She no longer considered Dave a son, but a slave; no longer a boy, but an it. His bed was an old army cot in the basement, his clothes were torn and smelly, and when he was allowed the luxury of food it was scraps from the dogs bowl. The outside world knew

With surprising consequences

His big chance comes when a rich landlord hires him as a chauffeur for his son

From the hilarious to the profoundly moving

imbued with umour and subtle detail

An unbearably tense rediscovered classic

Connecticut

Michael and Timothy

and take seven weeks of paid holidays per year

Nell Freudenberger

and THE CHERRY ORCHARD

To read The Accidental is to be excited from first to last' Independent 'Joyous

and hip-hop