The Young Desire It

<p>&quot;<i>The Young Desire It</i> is a revelation: a coming-of-age novel from 1937 that deserves a place alongside the classics in this genre. It's a feverish, fascinating, and surprising look into the mind of an adolescent discovering a sense of self in his quest for love. It's also a remarkably nuanced and moving portrait of the struggles of those around him to come to terms with their own lives and longings.&quot;<br>- Will Schwalbe, author of The End of Your Life Book Club</p><br><br><p>&quot;A first novel of exceptional interest and originality.&quot; - <i>The Spectator</i></p><p>&quot;Unique and very nearly perfect, a hymn to youth, to life, to sexual freedom and moral independence.&quot; - David Malouf, from the introduction</p><br><br><p>Fifteen-year-old Charles Fox is sent away to boarding school, innocent, alone, and afraid. There one of his masters develops an intense attachment to him. But when Charles meets Margaret, a girl staying at a nearby farm for the holidays, he is besotted, and a passionate, unforgettable, romance begins.</p><p>Published in London in 1937 to wide acclaim, this is a stunning debut novel about coming of age: an intimate account of first love and a rich evocation of rural Western Australia. It won the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal and is now back in print for the first time in almost twenty-five years with a new introduction by David Malouf, one of the finest Australian writers of all time.</p><p><b>Kenneth Mackenzie</b> was born in 1913 in South Perth, Western Australia. Unhappy years boarding at Guildford Grammar School were the basis for his highly acclaimed first novel, <i>The Young Desire It</i>. Mackenzie's subsequent novels were <i>The Chosen</i> (1938) , <i>Dead Men Rising</i> (1951) - based partly on his experiences after he was deemed unfit for active service in the war - and <i>The Refuge</i> (1954) . His last years were spent alone, in declining health and succumbing to drink, at Kurrajong, New South Wales, near the Blue Mountains. In 1955 he died accidentally while bathing in a creek.</p><br>