Publisher: Chicken House Ltd

Set in the freezing Nova Scotia winter, A Million Tiny Missiles All At Once draws on Lucas Maxwell’s upbringing to set the scene for his breath taking debut novel.

Dropping back ten years as an introduction Maxwell deftly utilises an incident from Elias’s early childhood to give a meaningful insight into who Elias is and how autism affects him. Back then, Elias knows his brother Bo would go to the ends of the earth to look after him but Bo has grown more distant and barely grunts at him nowadays, his parents are arguing and he knows he needs to do something about it. A talent show at the school could just be the key to helping but will it be too little too late?

Beautifully eloquent, heart-breaking yet uplifting, Maxwell doesn’t hide from the, at times, harsh reality of life. Dealing with a life spiralling due to addiction and associated debts, neurodiversity, poverty and the physical and mental strains that can put on families. This is also a story of hope, of the kindness of friends and strangers, of the power of human strength and determination in the face of adversity when powered by love. If that all seems to heavy for some, Maxwell also peppers the story with a series of puns, from Elias in preparation for his comedy sketch at the talent show, which you can’t help but chuckle at, confusing anyone who happens to observe you reading it. Quite how so much can be squeezed into such a relatively concise text is somewhat baffling, but it unequivocally works.