Four schoolchildren decide to run away from the the horrors of their everyday lives in a children's home. Seeking asylum in the woods, they enjoy the exhilaration of freedom and the first flush of adolescence. Yet the forest slowly asserts its own power and what happens out in the wild will affect the four boys' lives forever.

With his compelling narrative directness, rhythmic prose, and trademark humour, Alex Wheatle shows himself to be an author of real calibre, exposing the social stigma associated with children's homes, and the horrifying psychological consequences of their impact on children at the most sensitive stage.

Never losing pace or failing to engage the reader at every moment, Home Boys is an unflinchingly honest depiction of disrupted childhoods.