Abused and withdrawn, the child of a troubled marriage, young Flam Grub takes refuge in books.
When the latchkey kid instinctively gravitates to the bookstore beneath his family's flat, his obsession crystallizes as he falls under the tutelage of Page Turner, the shop's owner, and grows up as a lover of literature, and especially poetry.
Flam, however, carries the burden of a pathologically introverted nature, and the perceived shame of an unusual name that brings him nothing but abuse from his peers. As adulthood arrives, the angst-ridden and suicidal Flam must struggle to escape the netherworld of his own life.
This coming-of-age saga follows Flam as he attends vocational college to train as an undertaker, then enters the funerary profession as a wide-eyed neophyte. Hypersensitive and lonely, he pours his aching heart out into poetry, and fights to hold on. Thanks to his intelligence, decency, and spirituality, Flam bravely finds his way into the light—influenced by the characters he meets along the way.
Quirky, sometimes dark, sometimes funny, but ultimately uplifting, this book will have you rooting for the unforgettable Flam Grub.
