Trent Dalton - Boy Swallows Universe

The Borough Press

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers 2019

First published in Australia in 2018 by HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty Limited

Copyright © Trent Dalton 2019

Cover photograph © Mark Owen/Trevillion Images

Cover design by Claire Ward © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2020

Trent Dalton asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008319281

Ebook Edition © JUNE 2020 ISBN: 9780008319267

Version: 2020-01-30

‘Extraordinary … you will want this’

Joanna Cannon, author of Three Things About Elsie

‘Chock full of magic and what it really means to be a good person. The Bell brothers will stay with me for a very long time’

Rachael Brown, Guardian

‘Thrilling’

New York Times

‘Many coming-of-age novels set in the 1980s are little more than a roll-call of pop songs, retro snack foods and chopper bikes. Not this one. This is a proper literary novel about addiction, poverty, parenting and the power of love … Dalton has created an electric novel out of a troubled childhood … it’s a lively, funny affirmation of the human instinct for survival in a hostile environment’

The Times

‘Stellar … makes the typical coming-of-age novel look bland by comparison … This is an outstanding debut’

Publishers Weekly

‘The best Australian novel I have read in more than a decade’

Sydney Morning Herald

‘ Boy Swallows Universe hypnotizes you with wonder, and then hammers you with heartbreak. The events of Eli’s life are often fatal and tragic, but fate and tragedy do not overpower the story. Eli’s remarkably poetic voice and his astonishingly open heart take the day. They enable him to carve out the best of what’s possible from the worst of what is, which is the miracle that makes this novel marvellous’

Washington Post

‘Marvellous … filled with beautifully lyric prose … exceptional’

Booklist (Starred Review)

‘The most extraordinary writer – a rare talent’

Nikki Gemmell

‘Unsuspectedly joyous … sad, warm, witty’

The Australian

For Mum and Dad.

For Joel, Ben and Jesse.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Praise for Boy Swallows Universe

Dedication

Boy Writes Words

Boy Makes Rainbow

Boy Follows Footsteps

Boy Receives Letter

Boy Kills Bull

Boy Loses Luck

Boy Busts Out

Boy Meets Girl

Boy Stirs Monster

Boy Loses Balance

Boy Seeks Help

Boy Parts Sea

Boy Steals Ocean

Boy Masters Time

Boy Sees Vision

Boy Bites Spider

Boy Tightens Noose

Boy Digs Deep

Boy Takes Flight

Boy Drowns Sea

Boy Conquers Moon

Boy Swallows Universe

Girl Saves Boy

Acknowledgements

Trent Dalton on writing Boy Swallows Universe

About the Author

About the Publisher

Your end is a dead blue wren.

‘Did you see that, Slim?’

‘See what?’

‘Nothing.’

Your end is a dead blue wren. No doubt about it. Your. End. No doubt about it. Is. A. Dead. Blue. Wren.

The crack in Slim’s windscreen looks like a tall and armless stickman bowing to royalty. The crack in Slim’s windscreen looks like Slim. His windscreen wipers have smeared a rainbow of old dirt over to my passenger side. Slim says a good way for me to remember the small details of my life is to associate moments and visions with things on my person or things in my regular waking life that I see and smell and touch often. Body things, bedroom things, kitchen things. This way I will have two reminders of any given detail for the price of one.