The changeling of the title is Tom Curdie, the product of a Glasgow slum. Thirteen years old, he is the dirtiest and worst-dressed boy in the school and on probation for theft. His teachers admit him to be clever, but only one, Charlie Forbes, sees in his reticence and in his seemingly insolent smile a magnanimity uncanny in a child. He decides to take Tom on holiday with his own family. The effect of this decision is the subject of this powerful book. It is a work that explores one of Jenkins' most consistent and fruitful themes - the fate that awaits goodness and innocence in the face of growing up and learning to live in our society. It is a moving novel that has confirmed the reputation of an author who has long been regarded by his peers as a major force in British writing.

Author Biography

Robin Jenkins wrote a number of landmark novels including The Cone-Gatherers, Happy for the Child, The Thistle and the Grail and Guests of War. One of Scotland's greatest writers, the themes of good and evil, of innocence lost, of fraudulence, cruelty and redemption shine through his work. His novels, filled with ambiguity, are rarely about what they seem. He published his first book, So Gaily Sings the Lark, at the age of thirty-eight, and by the time of his death in 2005, over thirty of his novels were in print.