Michael Byrne, Lottery Boy, Walker Books, 1 July 2015, 279pp., $16.95 ISBN 978-1-4063-5829-2
Bully (proper name Bradley) lives on the streets following the death of his mother. He’s only 13 but has developed quite a lot of ‘street smarts’ in the year or so he’s been homeless. He has two precious possessions – one is his dog Jack (actually a female but no longer called Jacky) and the last birthday card his mother gave him before she died. In a roundabout way, it is the card that causes Bully’s life on the streets to fall apart. Inside the card he finds the lottery ticket he bought for his mother as his final gift to her. In a discovery which is both lucky and unlucky for him, he discovers that he has the winning ticket – but time is running out to be able to claim.
Some of his naivety and innocence is revealed through this as his childish dreams on what he might do with the money are revealed. Once he finds he cannot claim the money at an ordinary outlet, but has to go the rather ironically-named Camelot in Watford, he sees that as a magical place where perhaps he might even see knights. Further, he believes he will be able to claim the money himself, only to discover that he should not even have been able to buy the ticket as he is not of age.
He tries to find an adult or adults who he can trust to put the claim in for him but the prospect of the money is too tempting for most people and those people he thought he could trust turn out to be far from trustworthy. Loyalty is a scarce commodity amongst those he knows and in fact his dog becomes the signifier for loyalty in the book – a loyalty which is returned by Bully.
Bully is relentlessly pursued across the parts of London he knows, attacked and beaten by a vicious street gang led by the sinister Janks. His is a menacing presence which pervades the book and his organised hunt for Bully builds up the suspense and tension throughout the story. The scene is the grounds of the Imperial War Museum in which Bully hides in a cannon and witnesses Janks murder one of his own gang, is nail-bitingly written. As the pursuit of Bully continues and the dangers mount, time is running out for the money to be claimed, the chapter headings are used as countdown of days, hours and minutes, adding to the excitement of the race against time.
Bully is a classic vulnerable child, missing his mother and displaced by his father who has started a new family. His is a story of how children like this can fall through the cracks. Why is society not looking after street children? But on the other hand he, and others like him, display a fear of ‘welfare’ – will he lose all freedom of choice? Going back to his father and the new family doesn’t work, so where can he go? Fortunately for him, and giving him a happy ending which is not available to many street children, he is taken in by a family whose house he once broke into. This family recognises that he is essentially a good boy who needs a chance. Although this might seems rather too coincidental as a plot twist it does in fact work.
He needs a home life, which we know he ultimately finds with the family who take him in. With his mother’s illness and with his life on the streets, Bully has missed a lot of school. He finds it difficult to settle into the routine of school and quite often doesn’t go. The book ends on a positive note, however. Bully contemplates not going to school, but decides instead to run as he realises he is late. In order to get to school he needs to go up a hill and down the other side, an image which also acts as a metaphor for his life which has overcome the hills and obstacles and is now headed for a smoother run.
Reviewed by Margot Hillel
