The Wrong Hands (review)

Graham Sinclair was born with large, webbed hands that have made him the butt of schoolyard jokes ever since he was a child, and with a secret gift that Graham's mother has encouraged him to cover up, fearing that others will find him freakish. Shunned by his peers and neighbors, Graham is eventually sent away to London to live with an uncle, where he experiences the relative anonymity of the big city as a relief and an escape. It doesn't last long, however—his decision to use his gift to rescue a baby from the wreckage of a plane crash is witnessed by a glamorous young tabloid reporter, whose attentions blind Graham to her true motives and who convinces him to admit his secret. Alternately cast as hero and pariah by the tabloids, Graham must decide what his next move is, and whom he can trust. Graham's secret—his ability to fly—is the subject of subtle hints throughout, so the final revelation of his abilities is satisfying albeit not entirely surprising. The real pulse driving the story, however, is not Graham's secret but the way burying it has profoundly stunted his ability to judge character and damaged his relationships with potential allies, particularly his mother. While the theme of human flight has been treated compellingly in other novels, notably Almond's Skellig (BCCB 3/99) and Murphy's Night Flying (BCCB 1/01), Graham's travails give this story a darker cast and also a more realistic one—a boy who could fly would indeed need to worry about the tabloids and the police. The fact that he must also worry about his so-called friends and his own parents puts this novel, despite its fantastical subject matter, comfortably at home alongside other dark, realistic YA fare.