AKIN by Emma Donoghue

It has taken me a while to get around to reading this, and I am so glad I finally did. Such a story teller this woman is, and so versatile in how she chooses her subjects, writes her stories. Who would have thought the writer of Room  would come up with this tale of an elderly man lumbered with having to take an 11 year old boy to the other side of the world with barely 24 hours notice. Noah is a feisty retired chemistry professor, making what he feels will be his last big overseas journey. He wants to go back to the city he was born in - Nice - to learn a little more about his parents, what made his father come to New York with him during the war when he was a baby, why his mother stayed, plus his famous photographer grandfather. This desire to delve into the past follows his discovery of a box of photos taken by his photographer mother during the war. On the eve of departure from New York he finds himself in the unwanted predicament of having to take his great nephew - Michael - with him in order to keep the boy out of a foster home and the bottomless vortex of social services.  

You immediately love Noah, even if he is a bit cantankerous, impatient and knows nothing about 11 year old boys. Michael is equally unhappy about having to be with Noah, a man he knows nothing about. But off the intrepid duo go, somehow knowing they are going to have to get along. Noah has a manic week long programme worked out for his stay in Nice in a bid to solve some of his family mysteries. He initially sees Michael as a hindrance but it becomes clear pretty early on that Michael is a brilliant asset with his close attachment to his phone - specifically maps and the web. A veritable feast of information at his fingertips. 

As well as being of practical help to each other, slowly and painfully, they unfold themselves to each other, begin to weave in and out of each other's emotional orbit as they find common ground, ways to join forces and be necessary, wanted to each other. It is wonderful how carefully and gently this process happens. They are both intensely likeable people - the elderly not entirely healthy old man, and the young, cocky, lonely and uncertain young lad. So much potential for a great relationship but will one of them completely stuff it up? 

As well as Noah, Michael and his phone, Nice is the other wonderful character in this novel. At a time when no one can really go anywhere, to be able to read about a place, learn something of its history, its culture, its landscape is the biggest encouragement to not give up on the dreams of being able to travel again. Plus add another place to the list of places to go before one dies.