A review by silverliningsandpages
This Mortal Boy by Fiona Kidman

5.0

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“You have before you this mortal boy, one who has made a mistake, unintended, but a mistake nonetheless, with terrible consequences. Death is forever....The young occupy an uncertain universe. Mistakes can be made in the heat of the moment by the vulnerable young.”
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Thank you @gallicbooks for this review copy in return for an honest opinion.
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I was deeply moved by this haunting fictionalised account of a notorious case, the “Jukebox murder” in 1950s New Zealand. It is based on the true story of 18-year-old Albert “Paddy” Black, a “ten pound Pom” who emigrated from Belfast to Auckland in 1953. After being badly beaten up one night by violent young man Johnny McBride, Paddy stabs the other to death during a bar brawl. Paddy must face a judge and jury as an outsider in a country which has become fixated on demonising the young and enforcing morality in every aspect of society.
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This reimagining of the events that led to one of NZ’s last executions in 1955 is such a wonderfully compassionate, empathetic and humane account. It depicts Paddy as a gentle, kind and loving young man who was desperately homesick and made a terrible mistake. As the events surrounding the incident unravel, the author strongly conveys her deep sense of injustice and belief that this was an act of self-defence and the crime to answer should have been manslaughter, not murder. Therefore she puts to the reader that Paddy should not have received the death penalty.
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Fiona Kidman also skilfully evokes the places and people of the time - her descriptions of post-blitz Belfast and NI politics/community relations are perfect and her thorough research is evident. and the political tension and moralistic panic of right-wing governed New Zealand is palpable.
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I’m particularly drawn to books like this, which project that ethics and morality are not black and white, that humans are complex and there can be reasons and a context for dubious behaviour. This book delves deep into so many of those aspects: race, immigration, class, poverty, arrogance of youth and abuse.

The author has deservedly won prizes for this and is actually campaigning for the conviction of murder to be overturned. It is such a tragic story that depicts the fragility of life and yet my abiding impression is of how beautifully the author has weaved through the many forms of love with hope. Highly recommended