This month, the Catholic Writers’ Guild is touring Corinna Turner’s book, “The Boy Who Knew (Carlo Acutis)” It is a CWG Seal of Approval recipient! Teaser in the form of a sentence: Daniel’s got leukemia—can a holy dead boy help him?
Summary:
“You have leukemia.”
Daniel’s just received the worst news a teen can get. The adults in his life are crumbling under the shock. In desperation, he turns to his parish priest for help and is introduced to a boy his age, Carlo Acutis—who just happens to be dead.
Daniel’s convinced the priest is wasting his time. But as he struggles to come to terms with his uncertain future an unlikely friendship develops between him and the holy dead boy—who may not be quite so dead after all.
The Boy Who Knew is the first title in Carnegie Medal nominee Corinna Turner’s new Friends in High Places series. If you’ve always been interested in the saints but find dry biographies boring and hard to get through, this fast-paced story is for you.
Excerpt:
“You have leukemia.”
I keep seeing the doctor’s eyes over his mask, darting from me to my parents. I keep hearing his words in my head. Mum burst into tears. Dad started pounding on the doctor’s desk with his fists. Me, I just sat there.
Leukemia. How can I have leukemia? I’m fifteen. Stuff that bad doesn’t happen to people my age, right?
But the tiredness… The bruising…
“You have leukemia.”
When we got home from the hospital, Mum started getting ready for the Vigil Mass as usual. Dad never comes along, these days, but tonight…tonight he started yelling at Mum how could she possibly think there was a God if He could let this happen to me? How could she think He was good? And Mum shouted back that God was my only hope, couldn’t he see that? Did he want me to die?
They were still screaming at each other when I slipped out of the house and walked to church. I don’t think I’ve ever come to church on my own before. I felt really self-conscious. Any other week I’d have grabbed the chance to skip Mass. Today, I am angry with God, I suppose? But I’m also really, really scared. And I just wanted to escape the shouting.
Mum never showed up for Mass. I got a text during the first reading: Daniel, where are you? I texted back: At church. An old lady glared at me over the top of her un-environmentally friendly single-use mask.
Then I fell asleep during the homily. I’m just so tired all the time. I got glared at again.
Now everyone’s gone, and I’m still sitting here. I’m afraid to go home in case they’re still arguing. Or in case they want to talk about it all. I feel numb. I haven’t even taken my mask off, though I’m alone.
“You have leukemia.”
“Do you want Daniel to die?”
Am I going to die? Words from one of the readings I heard before I nodded off come into my mind: There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it.
“God, please don’t let me die,” I whisper..
God doesn’t reply. Maybe Dad’s right. Pulling my mask of at last, I shove it into my pocket, hands shaking.
“God, I’m scared.”
Nothing. Well, except that the numbness shatters and, suddenly, I really feel the fear, turning my belly into a black hole, cold as a…a…a morgue?
I bury my face in my hands as the sobs rip from me. Am I going to die, Lord?
Distant footsteps from the front of the church.
They pause, then tread briskly along the aisle. Towards me. Oh no.
Website: www.UnSeenBooks.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CorinnaTurnerAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CorinnaTAuthor
Bio:
Corinna Turner has been writing since she was fourteen and likes strong protagonists with plenty of integrity. She has an MA in English from Oxford University, but has foolishly gone on to work with both children and animals! Juggling work with the disabled and being a midwife to sheep, she spends as much time as she can in a little hut at the bottom of the garden, writing. She is a Catholic Christian with roots in the Methodist and Anglican churches. A keen cinema-goer, she lives in the UK. She used to have a Giant Snail called Peter with a 6½” long shell, but now makes do with a cactus and a camper van!
Buy Link:
https://books2read.com/u/38RkE7
Tweet:
Daniel’s got leukemia—can a holy dead boy help him? “I was captivated from the first chapter & I loved learning more about a recent blessed in this way.” -Kathryn Mathis. Want to learn about Carlo Acutis? Read ‘The Boy Who Knew’ https://books2read.com/u/38RkE7 #CarloAcutis #Blessed
Michael Fraley
Michael Fraley has been editing and posting the CWG Book Blast since 2016. He's adapted the Arthurian portion of Geoffrey of Monmouth's “Histories of the Kings of Britain” to the comic page, has worked in book illustration, graphic design, and has also served as a newspaper columnist. In 2019 the story of his conversion to Catholicism was told in Nancy Ward's book Sharing Your Catholic Faith Story. His primary area of study is in the Jewish roots of the Church, with an emphasis on the Gospel of Matthew and the Epistle of James. He holds a MA in theology from St. Joseph's College of Maine and a BFA in fine art from Indiana University. He can be reached at michael@michaelfraley.com