The Wrong Boy

Willy Russell has written some cracking plays—notably, Shirley Valentine and Educating Rita. He has a fine eye for human frailty and an ability to create humour out of the blackest, most miserable of situations. In The Wrong Boy, Russell's first novel, he continues to deliver the goods.

Raymond Marks was, by today's definition, an average lad. By his 18th year he is perceived as a social reject, a mental case, and a dirty “perv.” Raymond evolves from …