This Mortal Boy

October 1955. If Albert Black sings to himself he can almost see himself back home in Belfast. Yet here he stands in a prison cell in Auckland, thousands of miles away from his family. He had come in search of a better life, but after a disastrous brawl the fate of the young ?Jukebox Killer' is hanging in the balance - and the jury is unlikely to favour an outsider. Based on true events during the turbulent decade between the reinstatement and abolition of the death penalty in New Zealand, Fiona Kidman's powerful novel explores a dark episode in recent history with characteristic empathy and a probing eye for injustice.