The sequel to the much-loved novel, The Cartographer.
Melbourne, 1960: Mrs. Blayney and her twelve-year-old son live in South Richmond. At least, they did, until their house burnt down. The prime suspect, one Keith Aloysius Gonzaga Kavanagh, also aged 12, has mysteriously disappeared. Our narrator, the Blayney kid, sets off on a covert mission to find young Keith, who he privately dubs 'Flame Boy', to save him from the small army of irate locals, not to mention his mother, who want to see him put away.
Flame Boy has not only made himself scarce, but he's done so with a very important briefcase of secrets, which the kid is keen to get hold of for his grandfather, a shady character who has some secrets of his own. But the kid has got a lot going on: he's also organizing a new gang of kids; coping with the ups and downs of having a girl friend (who likes to kiss, a lot); trying to avoid Keith's dangerous prison-escapee father, Fergus Kavanagh, also an arsonist, who is suspected of selling secrets to the Russians; and all the while wondering how he can get his hands on the most beautiful object in the world: the Melbourne Olympic torch.
A madcap, brilliantly shambolic and irresistibly fun novel about loss, discovery and living life to the full, the torch is a ripper of a ride.
