This Mortal Boy

Paddy Black killed a man. But does he deserve to hang?

Market:

Maggie O'Farrell, Anne Enright

* Compelling courtroom drama with emotional heart

* Based on real case which the author is campaigning to be considered a miscarriage of justice. Current interest in true crime cases eg Serial, Making a Murderer

* The events in the novel contributed to the abolition of the death penalty in New Zealand - an account of Albert Black’s hanging was so harrowing it contributed to a tide of revulsion against the death penalty

* Kidman is brilliant at imagining the lives of real people - as she did with aviator Jean Batten in The Infinite Air. She is drawn to outsiders facing prejudice and injustice, often depicting women’s experience - so choosing to focus on the life of young man Albert Black is a departure for her

* New Zealand’s foremost literary fiction writer - award-winning, Legion d'honneur, OBE. Building profile outside ANZ - The Times called her ‘a beautiful writer’

* Insight into fascinating period of recent history which the author lived through, when teenagers like her in 1950s New Zealand were demonized and moral panic spread.

* Northern Irish connection - current interest in Northern Ireland (success of Milkman by Anna Burns, Booker Prize). The author travelled to Northern Ireland to research the book and was in contact with family members of those involved in the case.