Crowboy

CROWBOY

My first novel “Crowboy” has now been published by Oxford University Press. The novel is written for an audience of young adults, using a number of interlinking first-person, present-tense narratives, designed to drive the story along with energy and immediacy.

"The city will fall, and fall soon. And when it happens – well, I’ve seen it before, and I don’t want to see it again. I shouldn’t think Joey does either. So I just hope that whatever he’s brought us here for, we can be done with it and away again before the soldiers get in.

They don’t leave anything standing or anybody living."

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD CHAPTER 1

Praise for “Crowboy” from the literary Press:

“A complex and ambitious novel…bleak and spare storytelling, suggestive of myth.”
- Books for Keeps

“Calcutt’s experience as a playwright shines through as he expertly drives this story on to its powerful conclusion.”
- The Guardian “Best New Children’s Books” Spring 2008

“A thought-provoking read which raises awareness of the potential empowerment and ultimate futility of individuals faced with war.”
- Write Away

“An immensely assured first novel…tense and atmospheric, blending reality and magic and creating an almost mythological feel…fans of magic realism aged from ten to about fourteen will love it.”
-Jill Murphy, The Bookbag, February 2008

“Crowboy sets itself apart from the norm…intense, haunting and bleak.”
- The Birmingham Post

“A stunning book, daring, brilliantly written…the language is powerful, the story is moving and this is the best-written children’s book in terms of style that I have read in a good while.”
- Yahyra Arrassi, Waterstone’s Brussels.

‘A thought provoking read’
-Carole Walker, Write Away, February 2008

‘incredibly powerful and moving’
-Jayne Howarth, Birmingham Post, 2nd February 2008

‘This is a stunning book, daring, brilliantly written and ‘staged’ . . . If it doesn’t win prizes, there’s something badly wrong with the literary world.’
-Yahya Arrassi, Waterstone’s Brussels, Waterstones.com Spring 2008

Click here to order Crowboy from OUP
Or from Amazon