My fellow skin

My Fellow Skin is a beautiful, affectionate novel told from the point of view of an impressionable young boy. The novel opens before the boy can talk, and we follow Anton's first, tentative steps on the path to adulthood. He gradually begins to grasp an understanding of time and death, and when he goes to school he falls in love for the first time -- not with the schoolgirls his peers are interested in, but with his classmate, Willem. A gentle, protective relationship develops between them, and this gives Anton his own, new identity, his 'fellow skin'. But their love ends tragically, and Anton ultimately loses not only his love, but also his youth, the protection of his parents, and the old house in the village. He is left desolate. --