--- product_id: 34592248 title: "Golden Boy: A Novel" price: "98 zł" currency: PLN in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.pl/products/34592248-golden-boy-a-novel store_origin: PL region: Poland --- # Golden Boy: A Novel **Price:** 98 zł **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Golden Boy: A Novel - **How much does it cost?** 98 zł with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.pl](https://www.desertcart.pl/products/34592248-golden-boy-a-novel) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description "This is a gripping and fully-realized novel." —Emily St. John Mandel, National Book Award-nominated author of Station Eleven 2014 LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FINALIST WINNER OF THE 2014 ALEX AWARD BOOKLIST TOP 10 FIRST NOVEL OF 2013 SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF 2013 Max Walker is a golden boy. Attractive, intelligent, and athletic, he’s the perfect son, the perfect friend, and the perfect crush for the girls in his school. He’s even really nice to his little brother. Karen, Max’s mother, is determined to maintain the façade of effortless excellence she has constructed through the years, but now that the boys are getting older, she worries that the façade might soon begin to crumble. Adding to the tension, her husband Steve has chosen this moment to stand for election to Parliament. The spotlight of the media is about to encircle their lives. The Walkers are hiding something, you see. Max is special. Max is different. Max is intersex. When an enigmatic childhood friend named Hunter steps out of his past and abuses his trust in the worst possible way, Max is forced to consider the nature of his well-kept secret. Why won’t his parents talk about it? What else are they hiding from Max about his condition and from each other? The deeper Max goes, the more questions emerge about where it all leaves him and what his future holds, especially now that he’s starting to fall head over heels for someone for the first time in his life. Will his friends accept him if he is no longer the Golden Boy? Will anyone ever want him—desire him—once they know? And the biggest one of all, the question he has to look inside himself to answer: Who is Max Walker, really? Golden Boy is a novel you’ll read in one sitting but will never forget; at once a riveting tale of a family in crisis, a fascinating exploration of identity, and a coming-of-age story like no other. Review: GOLDEN BOY is easily one of the greatest books I’ve ever read. - I don’t think anything I write will give this book justice, but I genuinely loved this book and its characters and overall message. This isn’t just a love story. It’s a story about life. I think the most important thing I took out of reading this was the fact that this was such a real story, besides it being technically fiction. The feelings were real. The inner turmoil that Max faced throughout the story was real. The events that took place were as real as they could get. That’s probably what scared me the most. I’m fairly ignorant when it comes to gender binary and people who are intersex so GOLDEN BOY was definitely educational and left me thinking that people may not always identify with the gender they were born with and that’s okay. So long as they remember that they are a living person, their gender is not needed to classify who they are. We are all human in the end, regardless of what our gender may be. I don’t want to give too much away, so I will leave you with this: GOLDEN BOY is an eye-opening, intense, and eloquently written story about Max and the problems he faces being intersex. I cried, I laughed, but more importantly, I felt empathy. I needed this story more than I thought I did. If a book can move me the way GOLDEN BOY did, it will more than likely stay with me long after I have finished it. Abigial Tarttelin is an incredibly talented writer and is now one of my favorite authors. Thank you so much for wrecking me completely and for this story. If you haven’t already read this book, please find the time to do so. I’m so genuinely grateful that I did. Review: Wasn't Sure What To Expect - This book showed up on my recommendation list and I hesitated before I decided to read it. Once I pulled in the sample though, I was hooked. I thought initially that the whole concept of the book was farfetched but by the time I was a few chapters in, I fell in love with the characters and felt that I "needed" to know what happened next. Although I'm not sure the scenario outlined in the book could ever be reality, it ultimately makes the reader think that people are different and are struggling with unknown demons, challenges and issues that may or may not be understood or even acknowledged by others. Well worth the read. GOOD JOB!!!! ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #3,279,645 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #496 in LGBTQ+ Literary Fiction (Books) #8,419 in Coming of Age Fiction (Books) #16,006 in Literary Fiction (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.3 out of 5 stars 315 Reviews | ## Images ![Golden Boy: A Novel - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61LtGFmvvbL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ GOLDEN BOY is easily one of the greatest books I’ve ever read. *by N***O on September 24, 2014* I don’t think anything I write will give this book justice, but I genuinely loved this book and its characters and overall message. This isn’t just a love story. It’s a story about life. I think the most important thing I took out of reading this was the fact that this was such a real story, besides it being technically fiction. The feelings were real. The inner turmoil that Max faced throughout the story was real. The events that took place were as real as they could get. That’s probably what scared me the most. I’m fairly ignorant when it comes to gender binary and people who are intersex so GOLDEN BOY was definitely educational and left me thinking that people may not always identify with the gender they were born with and that’s okay. So long as they remember that they are a living person, their gender is not needed to classify who they are. We are all human in the end, regardless of what our gender may be. I don’t want to give too much away, so I will leave you with this: GOLDEN BOY is an eye-opening, intense, and eloquently written story about Max and the problems he faces being intersex. I cried, I laughed, but more importantly, I felt empathy. I needed this story more than I thought I did. If a book can move me the way GOLDEN BOY did, it will more than likely stay with me long after I have finished it. Abigial Tarttelin is an incredibly talented writer and is now one of my favorite authors. Thank you so much for wrecking me completely and for this story. If you haven’t already read this book, please find the time to do so. I’m so genuinely grateful that I did. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Wasn't Sure What To Expect *by G***E on June 20, 2013* This book showed up on my recommendation list and I hesitated before I decided to read it. Once I pulled in the sample though, I was hooked. I thought initially that the whole concept of the book was farfetched but by the time I was a few chapters in, I fell in love with the characters and felt that I "needed" to know what happened next. Although I'm not sure the scenario outlined in the book could ever be reality, it ultimately makes the reader think that people are different and are struggling with unknown demons, challenges and issues that may or may not be understood or even acknowledged by others. Well worth the read. GOOD JOB!!!! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Awesome *by A***L on September 27, 2016* Trigger Warning: Very strong and difficult content, non-consensual decisions about the bodies of others. A more detailed trigger warning is included at the end of this review, in order to avoid story spoilers if you decide to read this novel. If you wish to avoid the details of sexual assault while reading the book, skip Max’s first section. My use of male pronouns in this review is due to Tarttelin’s portrayal of Max as a male-identifying person. For the sake of this review, I felt that he/him/his were the proper pronouns to use. This review includes spoilers involving the perspectives of various characters in the novel. Golden Boy is a heart-wrenching story about an intersex teen named Max, and the aftereffects of his rape. The main issue explored by the author in Max’s story is the secrecy and misconceptions surrounding sex and gender. At it’s core, this is a coming of age story with a conversation on social expectations. Along with characters’ problematic views comes the question their lives revolve around: what will people think? An English novelist trained in acting, Abigail Tarttelin writes with natural ability. The character development is expertly established such that the reader becomes fully invested in Max, wanting to see the novel through to the end. This is the gift of a skilled author. The book is beautifully written in the simple style of many young adult novels, making it an easy read. However, the content is harrowing, making the reading psychologically challenging. Each section of the book is divided according to character. The story continually shifts perspectives, allowing a thorough view of the complexities of the situation. The reader sees how Max’s character evolves through both his eyes and those of the people around him. The readers also get to know the personalities of the other characters, and how they affect the story. Adding to the events of the book are the class, political, and familial elements of Max’s life. Max is the golden boy: blonde, smart, good-looking, sweet-natured, athletic, and popular. His parents live in the spotlight of their highly successful legal careers, which have a strong influence on Max’s feelings about himself, as well as his actions later on. His attacker is a childhood friend; a friendship at times forced by the close relationship between their mothers. At the time of the story, Max’s mother Karen is leading a charmed, privileged life. She has a close relationship with Max, and played a large part in raising her children as her husband Steve worked longer hours. This is quickly shown to be problematic in that Max began to take on his mother’s view of his body as mysterious and distasteful, a mistake best kept quiet. She worries about Steve’s political involvement in the town, as it draws them further into the spotlight that could shine on things she believes are best left in the dark. I think much of Karen’s view of intersexuality comes from her interactions with Max’s specialists. The specialists are the worst kind of doctors, the kind that treat Max as a specimen, ignoring his personhood, his feelings and curiosity about his own body. They talked almost exclusively to Max’s parents, particularly to Karen (Steve didn’t like them). In doing this, they gave her all the control. When the family is at a doctor’s appointment, Karen demands that Max “stop talking” to the doctor, as if what he has to say about himself is of no consequence. They led her to believe Max was different in a bad way; Max, like many children, picked up on Karen’s attitude. He sees intersexuality as a terrible secret that will force him into loneliness in his adult life. Knowledge is a power Max was never given, leading to the confusion he deals with throughout the story and the events that unfold after the rape. As for Max’s father, he is partly to blame as well. While he is far more open-minded about Max’s intersexuality, and better able to cope than Karen, he is guilty in that he did not speak up. Karen bullied him into keeping quiet when he should have said something. He also spends far more time working than Karen, especially when he decides to delve into politics. This leaves Karen to rule the household, to make decisions concerning Max. If Steve had stood up for Max, the story would have taken a different route; rather than focusing on society’s opinions, Steve wants his children to make their own decisions. Adding pressure to an already strenuous situation is Daniel, Max’s younger brother. Daniel’s chapters are characterized by run-on sentences about his love for his brother, video games, and his frustrations concerning parental attention. 9 years old and an aspiring robotics engineer, Daniel is a smart, temperamental little brother who, in spite of a close relationship with Max, often feels ignored or cast aside due to Max’s golden boy status. Daniel experiences problems in school, and relies on Max to help him, adding to Max’s already overflowing emotional plate. Sylvie is Max’s love interest in the novel. An anxious loner who spends her days writing poetry, Sylvie likes hanging out in the local graveyard. Doing so helps her prove to herself that she has courage, that she has nothing to be afraid of. She helps Max by being there for him and helping him to feel loved and accepted throughout the novel. The local doctor, Archie, is the character that reminds me the most of myself. When Max asks questions she doesn’t know the answer to, she does her best to find out; she recognizes the limits of her knowledge, and wants to learn more so she can do better. She states, “The trick is to treat the sick like you treat the well. More than anything, they need to feel normal” (pg. 45). She sees sex as a normal part of adolescence, and believes Max deserves answers to his questions about his body. Archie and Max initially have trouble communicating. This is largely caused by a lack of education on both their parts. Max is ashamed of what happened, doesn’t understand his body well, and doesn’t understand sex well, so has trouble communicating necessary information to his doctor. Medical education hardly covers sex and gender issues, and this gap in medical education makes it difficult for Archie to understand what she needs to know in order to help Max. These are gaps that must be addressed and fixed by society in order to create a healthier human population. The end of the book is everything one could hope for. The book itself is a heartbreaker; Tarttelin gives her audience the ending that so many similar stories cannot have. I am happy with this; we all need some positivity in our lives. Tarttelin gives readers the kind of ending that gives one hope for a better day. Trigger Warning (this includes major plot spoilers!): rape, abortion, self-shaming, nonconsensual decisions about the bodies of others, attempted suicide. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.pl/products/34592248-golden-boy-a-novel](https://www.desertcart.pl/products/34592248-golden-boy-a-novel) --- *Product available on Desertcart Poland* *Store origin: PL* *Last updated: 2026-05-12*