Dare
At the start of his school holidays, Danny Delaney is looking forward to a trouble-free summer. But when his mother returns home one afternoon, flanked by two policemen, he knows that something terrible has happened.
Mrs Delaney has accidentally hit a small boy with her car. The boy is in a coma at the local hospital and nobody knows if he will ever wake up.
Consumed by guilt, Danny's mother closes herself off, while Danny and his father are left to pick up the pieces of their fractured family.
Told in John Boyne's unique style from the point of view of a twelve-year-old boy, The Dare is a brilliantly compelling story about how one moment can change a family forever.
John Boyne is the author of nineteen novels for adults, six for younger readers, a picture book and a collection of short stories. His 2006 novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and has been adapted for cinema, theatre, ballet, and opera. His many international bestsellers include The Heart's Invisible Furies and A Ladder to the Sky. He has won four Irish Book Awards, including Author of the Year in 2022, along with a host of other international literary prizes, including most recently the 2025 FNAC novel prize for The Elements. His novels are published in sixty languages.
Twitter: @JohnBoyneBooks
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