Growing Pains

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An Ebook of the novel Growing Pains
Alexander is the most normal and loved eleven-year-old boy you will ever meet. Until one day, he isn’t.

Living in the south east of England in the nineteen-nineties, he has it all. A stable family life and a comfortable school life, combined with a healthy dose of kindness and innocence, with protectors keeping all worries from the real world at bay. As he starts to see changes in behaviour towards him, one foundation after another is challenged, leading to unrest through the house and a growing tension with his father that threatens to overspill beyond the point of no return.

Growing Pains tells Alexander’s coming-of-age story as he tries to strike a balance between being the caring boy his mother has nurtured and finding favour with a father stuck in a past that revolves around toxic masculinity and violence.

Trying his best to navigate his father’s temper, his mother’s conditional affection, and his own sense of identity in a world that seems increasingly hostile. School, friendships, and football become key battlegrounds in his attempt to find a place where he truly belongs.

But how do you find your voice in a home where silence is survival?

  • Writing

  • EPUB (351.37 KB)
Joseph Ball (JosephBall)
Joseph Ball is a working-class voice author, a full-time retail manager, and a lifelong book lover who dreams of opening his own bookstore. He lives in the Dorset countryside with his wife, children, and two cats, where most days begin early, end late, and are built around family life. Joseph grew up in Essex in the late 80s and 90s, and it is those formative years that inspired his debut novel Growing Pains. Drawing from lived experiences, Joseph has created a world that honours the people who helped him through, while shedding light on the silence that surrounds emotional abuse. Growing Pains was written to show that not all wounds are visible, and not all children who suffer are noticed. It is a story for those who smile to keep the peace, whilst their trauma goes unseen. Joseph hopes that this story might reach someone who needs to know they’re not alone, and that their voice and their stories matter too. A portion of profits from the book will be donated to child protection charities.

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