Emma Donoghue, Slammerkin

"For all the books in his possession, he still failed to read the stories written plain as day in the faces of the people around him."

"The worn soles of Daffy's boots skidded on the icy stones. He'd been saving up for a new pair for Christmas, but then he'd come across an encyclopaedia in ten volumes, going cheap. Boots might last ten years, at best, but knowledge was eternal."