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Category: Adult Fiction (18+), 324 pages
Genre: historical fiction/magical realism/literary fiction
Publisher: Koehler Books
Release date: March 2025
Content Rating: PG-13: There is adult content, use of the f word and (in limited context) the n word
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What does it mean to be different? When Johnny Cruel is born with strange appendages on his back in the 1930s South, the locals think he’s a devil. Determined to protect him, his mother fakes his death, and they flee. Thus begins Johnny’s yearslong struggle to find a place he belongs. From a turpentine camp of former slaves to a freak show run by a dwarf who calls herself Tiny Tot and on to the Florida capitol building, Johnny finds himself working alongside other outcasts, struggling to answer the question of his existence. Is he a horror, a wonder, or an angel? Should he hide himself to live his life? Accompanying Johnny’s journey through love, betrayal, heartbreak, and several murders, Boy with Wings is a story of the sacrifices and freedom inherent in making one’s own special way—and of love and the miracles that give our lives meaning.
Boy With Wings is a Story that Will Stay With Readers Long Beyond the Last Page. The author tells a truly sad story, full of darkness and realism — and a lot of human nature, emotions, and historical context. Johnny's story is a painful one to read and experience throughout much of the novel, but its experiences and realities are thought-provoking and believable. This novel is not an easy one to read at times, but the realism that makes it difficult also makes it emotional and engaging.
Expect an Emotional Read. This novel is part coming-of-age, part fantasy, part psychological drama, part historical realism — but all emotional. As Johnny seeks to find his place in the world, readers will follow an emotional journey of understanding why that is sometimes (oftentimes) so very difficult. Facing "differences," very unique ones in Johnny's case, and confronting society's views of those differences — while trying to fill real-world, human needs —blend remarkably well as the author builds this novel. The novel is impossible to put down as it is impossible not to follow Johnny's story to a resolution.
Would I Recommend Boy with Wings by Mark Mustain? Boy with Wings is one of the best books that I have read this year. Not because it has an uplifting, "happy" story flow — but because it is unique, authentic, and engaging from the moment it grabs your attention. The author tells Johnny's story in a dark, painful way--but also in a way readers will understand, empathize with, maybe even relate to, and not want to put down. If you enjoy realistic fantasy and historical dramas, this novel must be on your reading list.
Mark Mustian is the author of the novel The Gendarme, an international bestseller shortlisted for the Saroyan International Award for Writing and published in ten languages, and the new novel Boy With Wings, winner of the 2025 Grand Prize for Fiction from Next Generation Indie Book Awards. He's the founder of the Word of South Festival of Literature and Music in Tallahassee, Florida, and lives in Florida and Michigan.
I never wanted to be a writer. It wasn’t a childhood dream—I wanted to be a lawyer, and I
became one for forty years. But I’ve always liked to read, beginning with the Hardy Boys and
moving on to The Lord of the Rings and its ilk. I was big into Dune. I was in advanced English
classes through high school, and we read fairly widely: Life on the Mississippi, Siddartha, The
Mayor of Casterbridge, Slaughterhouse Five, Beowulf, Romeo & Juliet, Lord of the Flies. I can
still recall many of the books we read in my freshman English class in college: Portrait of the
Artist as a Young Man, The Stranger, Deliverance, Candide (all of which I hated, except for
Deliverance). The students in that class seemed to me mostly puffed-up snobs. I still recall my
mandatory conference with the professor, a dead ringer for Paul Lynde, in which his message to
me seemed to be that some dreams couldn’t be realized. I was a business major. I wanted a “B”
and to move on with things.
About ten years into my legal career, driving alone on Florida’s highways and perhaps in
an early midlife crisis, I decided that I wanted to try a few things besides practicing law: I
wanted to run for public office, I wanted to teach, and I wanted to try and write a book. I
eventually did all three, teaching two years at Tallahassee Community College (that was enough
to cure me of that), serving on the Tallahassee City Commission for ten years (I later described
this as a fit of insanity), and writing what became The Return. I had no idea what I was doing, an
act I later saw described as the equivalent of waking up one morning and deciding to start
practicing thoracic surgery. But I did it, I discovered that I liked writing, and I felt like I had
modest talent. I’ve kept on to this day.
Along the way, I ran across a list of the “100 novels you should have read by the time
you’re thirty,” or something to that effect. Having not read most of them, I decided to whack
away. These were mostly 20 th century American works, and it was interesting to see what seemed
to hold up and what didn’t. I think the period of your life in which you read certain books affects
your appreciation of them, and some of these (like those I read in the freshman English class) I
wouldn’t have appreciated if I’d read them at 19. A few of my favorites:
I, Claudius, by Robert Graves
Augustus, by John Williams
The Magus, by John Fowles (bizarre, but good)
An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser
The Bridge at Sun Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder
Darkness at Noon, by Arthur Koestler
The Good Soldier, by Ford Maddox Ford
interest to be able to read for pleasure. It’s what’s made me a writer. It’s a big world out there.
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