Fiction for young adults increasingly targets issues that were once avoided, such as suicide and sexuality.
Golden Boy by English writer Abigail Tarttelin (25) goes for an aspect of sexuality that rarely figures in adult novels, let alone the teen market.
Max Walker is the golden boy of the title. He is the good-looking, intelligent, athletic and popular son of two high-achieving professionals, Karen and Steve, who lift near Oxford, in England.
The only snag in this perfect life is that Max is intersex (he prefers the old word hermaphrodite), something only one person outside the family knows. He is Max's friend from childhood, Hunter.
As he nears his 16th birthday, it seems Max' secret will come out because Hunter has abused his trust in the most appalling manner.
The story is told from various viewpoints - Max, his girlfriend Sylvie, little brother Daniel, Karen, Steve and Max's GP.
Although at times Golden Boy is rather heavy on the medical and philosophical aspects of being intersex, it is difficult to see how they could have been avoided.
Overall, the book is a fascinating and unusual coming-of-age novel.
- Gillian Vine is a Dunedin journalist.
