Golden Boys

Sonya Hartnett's 'Golden Boys' is a psychologically complex young adult novel set in a 1970s-80s Australian suburb, exploring the dark underbelly of a seemingly perfect family. Colt Jenson and his younger brother Bastian are showered with gifts by their charismatic father, Rex, making them the envy of their new neighborhood. However, Colt begins to perceive a deeply unsettling, abusive truth about his father, a truth that threatens their fragile existence. The story, also told through the perspective of local girl Freya Kiley, delves into themes of lost childhood innocence, dysfunctional families, and the courage required to confront uncomfortable realities. It's a poignant and unflinching look at family secrets and the process of coming of age amidst profound psychological menace.

With masterful nuance and vividly drawn characters, Sonya Hartnett’s novel visits a suburban neighborhood where psychological menace lurks below the surface. Colt Jenson and his younger brother, Bastian, have moved to a new, working-class suburb. The Jensons are different. Their father, Rex, showers them with gifts — toys, bikes, all that glitters most — and makes them the envy of the neighborhood. To the local kids, the Jensons are a family out of a movie, and Rex a hero — successful, attentive, attractive, always there to lend a hand. But to Colt he's an impossible figure: unbearable, suffocating. Has Colt got Rex wrong, or has he seen something in his father that will destroy their fragile new lives? This brilliant and unflinching new novel reveals internationally acclaimed author Sonya Hartnett at her most intriguing and psychologically complex.