Burning City

Publisher and industry reviews

UK Kirkus review

Summer, New York, burning pavements and burning speed. Heller Highland is sixteen, he's the bike boy, haring round Manhattan delivering 'soft tidings' - messages with a personal touch. But Heller has a talent for a particular brand of message: bad news. He has a gift. Despite or maybe because of his tidings, Heller's customers adore and adopt him. But for Heller, this job is more about getting there than the delivery. On his pushbike, he shows us New York at a breakneck speed: a city melting under the July sun. A city that is a melting pot. A city near to meltdown. Heller is also learning about the throes of first love, about alcohol and hangovers, about family, friendship, injustice and persecution, about dreams and about death. The Burning City is a fascinating and very original story of adolescence. From the first line, 'Heller and his bike burst onto Sixth Avenue, and none of the cars saw him coming', this is a book you fly through, short chapter after short chapter, until you come to the end - and can sit back with a very satisfied sigh. A book to be read in one or two sittings, and relished. Adults will love it as much as its intended teenage audience. Ariel Dorfman is a Chilean novelist, playwright, essayist, journalist and human rights activist who was forced into exile in 1973 during the military coup. He has published no less than 21 books in English translation, including the novels The Rabbits' Rebellion and Widows and the renowned play Death and the Maiden. His son Joaquin, who co-authored this book, is in his early 20s, yet already has two novels under his belt, opened his first play at Edinburgh when he was 19, and has also co-written two screenplays with his father. Ages 12+ (Kirkus UK)