The Torch

Melbourne, 1960:  Mrs Blayney and her twelve year old son live in South Richmond.  At least, they did, until their house burnt down.  the prime suspect - one Keith Aloysius Gonzaga Kavanagh, also aged 12 - has mysteriously disappeared.  Our narrator, the Blayney kid, sets off on a covert mission to find young Keith, who he privately dubs 'Flame Boy', to save him from the small army of irate locals - not to mention his mother - who want to see him put away.

Flame Boy has not only made himself scarce, but he's done so with a very important briefcase of secrets, which the kid is keen to get hold of for his grandfather, a shady character who has some secrets of his own.  But the kid has got a lot going on:  he's also organising a new gang of kids; coping with the ups and downs of having a girl friend (who likes to kiss - a lot); trying to avoid Keith's dangerous prison-escapee father, Fergus Kavanagh, also an arsonist, who is suspected of selling secrets to the Russians; and all the while wondering how he can get his hands on the most beautiful object in the world: the Melbourne Olympic torch.

A madcap, brilliantly shambolic and irresistibly fun novel about loss, discovery and living life to the full, the torch is a ripper of a ride.