A. J. Braithwaite

A. J. Braithwaite writes school-centered fiction in which choices carry consequences and trust develops through action. The Roman and the Runaway opens the Hawley Lodge stories with Luke Brownlow, a student whose parents separate him from a troublesome circle and send him to a new school. During the preceding summer, Luke befriends his neighbor Ned Kelly, only to discover that Ned is his new headmaster. That connection complicates Luke’s original plan to earn an expulsion. A hostile presence within the school and a runaway girl outside it then test his judgment and his growing respect for Ned. First released in 2009, it uses one school year as its frame. Braithwaite keeps the focus on Luke’s shifting loyalties, the pressures surrounding a fresh start, and the uneasy movement from resistance toward responsibility.