Author(s): William Taylor

New Zealand Authors

Paul Carter and Adrian Vanderlaar enter their senior year full of the confidence and reckless bravado of boys who are sure of their place in the pecking order of their school. But one night Adrian drinks too much, and in a gruesome accident he is paralysed and his girlfriend, Lauren, is killed. The outpouring of grief in their school starkly contrasts with the decidedly more muted reaction to the gay-bashing murder of another fellow student, which the school administration uses as a cautionary lesson for the student body. Speaking out in defence of the murdered boy puts Paul on the outs with his classmates, and ultimately causes Paul's abusive fundamentalist father to kick him out of the family home. The boys' struggles and confusions play out artfully against the backdrop of their senior year, Adrian's upcoming trial for manslaughter, and Paul's growing awareness of his own sexuality. Brimming with emotion, humour and humanity, and bravely unsentimental about its treatment of both young men, PEBBLE IN A POOL is a complex yet sparely written account of actions, reactions and consequences.