Funny, tragic, very appealing

When he is 16, an autistic boy, Merlin, is hit by a car and lies unconscious in hospital. His mother, Lucy, is devastated not only because her son may die but also because Merlin ran into the road after she had yelled at him.

Kathy Lette's novel The Boy Who Fell to Earth (Bantam Press) starts with the accident and flows into Lucy looking back on life with Merlin as she sits by his bedside.

A well-crafted, bittersweet story, sometimes funny, sometimes tragic, Lette's book is very appealing.