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Boy With Wings
Published by: Köehler Books
Release Date: March 15, 2025
What does it mean to be different? Following the success of The Gendarme, Mark Mustian returns with another historical fiction masterpiece, Boy With Wings, this time set in the 1930’s in the United States. Coming March 15, 2025 from Köehler Books, it’s the story of a boy… well, with wings.
His mother at first tries to bury him alive. He grows up in a turpentine labor camp before landing in a “freak show” traveling the South, all the while wondering about the man who seems to follow him and whom his father might be.
Is Johnny some kind of an angel? Should he hide himself to live and save his life?
With a cast of characters that ranges from the dwarf show leader Tiny Tot to Florida’s governor and a one-armed killer, Boy With Wings follows Johnny’s journey through love, betrayal, heartbreak and several murders, to reach an understanding in the place and time that he may least expect. With blurbs forthcoming from Jeff VanderMeer, Chris Bohjalian and others, BWW should be one of the breakout hits of the spring!
Advance Praise for Boy With Wings
“Boy With Wings is a brilliant fever dream of a novel, a haunting coming of age story reminiscent of both Franz Kafka and Charles Dickens. Depression-era America and the carnival life is rendered vividly, but so is the beauty and courage of, yes, a boy with wings."
— Chris Bohjalian, #1 New York Times Best-selling Author of “The Jackal’s Mistress”
“A weird and wonderful tale, full of mystics, magic, and deep tenderness. Boy With Wings is vibrant and alive, the kind of book where the blood pumps mightily, truly all heart. It's fabulous.”
—Kristen Arnett, author of “Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One” and “Mostly Dead Things”
“The human spirit is hard to break. Mark Mustian's Boy With Wings demonstrates the possibility of love and hope in the face of unimaginable hardships. A rich and powerful novel. Highly recommended."
—Jeff VanderMeer, author of “Annihilation” and “Absolution”
“Mark Mustian writes with the crisp, sharp, hardhitting economy of a seasoned fighter. And combine that with the desperation, the gnawing, the fierce and loyal love of a great tale and Boy With Wings delivers a knockout.”
—Michael Farris Smith, author of “Salvage this World” and “Desperation Road”
“In this propulsive tale of the magic lurking inside our mortality, Mark Mustian has conjured a surreal hero. Here is a translucent rendering of boyhood and aberration, of the fault lines of race and the frailty of religion. In sentences that are equally primal and poetic, Mustian transports us through the shacks, camps, circuses, and back alleys of the Depression-era South, asking a still-resonant question: what's the price of belonging in a society that's already broken?”
–Katy Simpson Smith, author of “The Everlasting”
“…a magical, highly imaginative tour de force... Boldly original and unexpectedly profound…"
—Readers’ Favorite Reviews
“Mustian’s story is a study in acceptance, diversity, kindness, and the possibility of marvels in life… Vibrant with discovery, Boy With Wings is a winner.”
—Midwest Book Review
“…riveting… An evocative historical novel that celebrates distinctive individuals in the Depression-era South.”
—Foreword Book Reviews
“In this imaginative novel filled with magical realism, religion and morality are turned inside out and upside down.”
—Southern Literary Review