My Name is Yip: Shortlisted for the Betty Trask Prize

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It is full of lively characters, the action really picks up as the novel advances and it is quite atmospheric in its early 19th century Western-Gold Rush setting.

The American Mid West, October 1815, and Yip Tolroy announces his entry into the world in complete silence, with a cord wrapped around his tiny neck.Daniel Wiles, author of Mercia's Take * Unforgettable: rich with imagery, distinctive and convincing * The Times 'Best Books To Read This Summer' * Crewe has created a memorable hero - one who cannot speak, but in nonetheless an eloquent voice on the page. So much of this reminded me of a classic piece of literature, through the language and especially with ties to Dickensian characters - Oliver Twist and Fagin/ Pip in GE. It takes a while to realise he’s been recruited into a freak show, with attractions such as the Pig Faced Lady and queasily sexualised identical twin girls the Living Dolls. He was an object of ridicule and fear, with other children running away from him, which forced him to keep himself to himself, passing his time beneath the old elm tree that he loved. Parrick, he was not one to waste his words but spoke of my demise as plainly as of some turn in the weather.

She struggles to manage his needs, leaving Yip to find the means of asserting himself in an unforgiving, hostile environment. Yip's story is not a happy one, it's one of suffering, pain and injustice, despite this, I couldn't pull myself away.

Other than my objection to the style which is only personal preference, the story is interesting and original. By the time Yip reaches his fifteenth year he has not spoken a word - he is mute, friendless, an outcast. Overall I’m glad I read this book and I enjoyed it, but I don’t feel inclined to read it again or recommend it to everyone I know.

Here we feel there’s something of Dickens’s orphaned heroes in Yip, a young man who tangles with society’s evils, but has the potential to come good. Photograph: WorldFoto/Alamy View image in fullscreen ‘Yip makes an epic fugitive journey across the American frontier. The images still flowing through my mind as if it were a movie I'd just finished watching, i felt every bit invested in the journey of Yip Tolroy that when it came to an end i really felt it, I'm sad there's no more pages to turn. Mostly for me, it reads like some of the old Western mountain men and trapper books that I used to love, but Yip has a tone and spirit of his own.Yip Tolroy is one of the most unusual characters, in both senses of the word, that I have come across. The story moves between the various phases of Yip's life as he tells the tale of his journey to becoming an adult. As his mother still lies in the blood-slicked sheets, and Yip takes his first gulps of air, his father disappears without trace.