Boys In Exile

A haunting coming-of-age journey through the volatility of adolescence. Overflowing with intensity and subtle power, Boys In Exile is an epic coming-of-age treat that evokes the broken innocence of childhood while illuminating the push and pull of adolescence. Embedded in the backdrop of post-World War II America, it is an explosive story of inner turmoil and finding one’s place in the world. Duggin’s profound metaphors cast light on the novel’s deeper themes while stirring up nostalgia and a haunting wistfulness rich with hidden meaning and humming with tension.

Duggin is a masterful storyteller. He sets a flawless stage, and readers will be swept into his dynamic renderings and find themselves lost in reflection throughout the book. He brings his story full-circle to a powerful ending that will weigh heavily with readers and consume them long after the book is finished.

- BookLife Prize - 2022

"This book stayed with me for weeks after I read it. It really brought me into the world of pre-teen boys back in 1955, which is remarkable since I'm the furthest thing from a pre-teen white boy (lol). And that climax had me hanging on to every word. My jaw dropped and my heart was in my stomach."

- Lyn Liao Butler

Duggin draws on the messy, complicated nature of boys’ friendships in this elegiac novel. In 1955, 12-year-old Elliott Streett reluctantly arrives at a sleepaway camp for boys in New Hampshire, sent by his worry-prone mother to keep him away from polio. His cabin mates include Billy Waite, an arrogant popular kid whose approval Elliott desperately craves. For Elliott and the other campers who befriend Billy, that approval is elusive; when they talk about sex, for example, Billy patiently corrects one boy for thinking the uterus is in the stomach, then belittles another for believing that girls’ eggs regularly slip out of their bodies (“Even when he was being nice to you, Billy Waite still had to put you down”). Billy regularly bullies nerdy cabin mate Peter Stang, and Elliott risks becoming Billy’s target by secretly befriending Peter.

Most of the novel consists of such preadolescent episodes as playing with matches and pursuing girls at a neighboring camp, though it builds to a tragic conclusion involving the three main players.

Duggin executes the scenes with precision, imbuing everything from a trip to the bug-infested latrine to a snipe hunt with potent emotion. Fans of Tobias Wolff will love this.

- Publishers Weekly