The child a novel Hardcover - 2007

From the publisher

Sam Manzie, a fifteen-year-old teenager from Monmouth County, New Jersey, Looked for and found an adult boyfriend online. When an Internet pedophilia sting resulted in the arrest of his lover, Sam was exposed to his family and community. After repeated requests by his parents for state intervention were denied, Sam had a psychotic breakdown and murdered an eleven-year-old neighbor. At the same age, he was considered by the law to be a minor, and unable to choose his own boyfriend, but he was tried as an adult for murder, and sentenced to seventy years in jail. Sarah Schulman's novel is a disturbing retelling of Manzie's story, exploring homophobia in family settings and the consequences of treating homosexuality as a phase or sickness. Structured like a classic novel of legal suspense, it considers the impact of the proceedings on all those involved, from the family of the murdered child, to the boy's staunchly Catholic parents, to the attorneys working on the case. Carefully untangling the actions of an isolated teenager denied a natural outlet for his feelings during a critical time in his life, The Child is a haunting meditation on isolation and the prejudices of culture and family.