The Last Boy

LoveReading4Kids Says

October 2024 Book of the Month

Sparked by the true story of George Brewster — the last child chimney sweep — Eve McDonnell’s The Last Boy is an outstanding historic adventure about secrets, secrets of the stars, scientific innovation, deep-felt grief and long-held dreams. I adored every perfectly-placed word.

Brewster is a boy who was born into hardship: “Money was hard to come by, so Brewster understood — he understood why he was passed from one brother to the other when Mam moved into her castle in the sky. As for Pa, well he simply couldn’t cope with that – Mam was the heart of the family, and that heart was made of gold”. As a result of being thrown out of the family nest to “save the rest”, to paraphrase Brewster, he’s been sold to a cruel chimney sweep.

While empty bellies are the norm for his child chimney sweep clan, Brewster “had a hunger of a different kind – nothing tasted as good as knowing the unknown”. And, thanks to his extraordinary wizardry with numbers, Brewster has made a remarkable discovery that might be “enormous. If his coordinates were right, and the comet was where he predicted, it meant the comet wasn’t just a once-off, random ball whizzing through space”. Rather, it was “something that could be explained, predicted, and not feared”.

While Brewster wishes upon stars to be the last sweeping boy, while working in the household of wealthy Lady Rosse, he finds a soulmate in her daughter: “He was Alice’s secret, and she was his. A young lady and a sweep, just like in a book of fairy tales she’d pointed out on the bottom shelf of the library’s children’s section”. He’s also presented with a monumental challenge that might see his ultimate dream come true.

Throughout, McDonnell’s writing is classy, characterful and splendidly compelling, with a wonderfully inviting premise that keeps on giving as Brewster’s magical, suspenseful, big-hearted tale takes flight in illuminating and unpredictable style.

Joanne Owen

Find This Book In