Changes

This is the fourth and last story about Nicky and Kenny. Try not to cry before you've even read the first page.

I won't say more because you should read ''Lark'' for yourself. It's as gorgeous and life-affirming and as bittersweet and heartbreaking as you imagine. I cried and cried and cried. But I also smiled and laughed. Lots. I don't know what it is about Anthony McGowan, but he can write about the inner lives of young people with such wonderful detail and can tap in to the deepest wells of emotion without ever being saccharine or coy. Nicky has had a trying life, plagued by poverty, a missing parent, a parent with alcohol issues, trouble with bullies, and the responsibility of being a young carer for his brother. But somehow, the love he has for Kenny has carried him through. And who could dislike Kenny? A child of blunt speech, crazy obsessions and, despite disability, an unerring sense of right and wrong.