Coram Boy Jamila Gavin

Coram Boy

by Jamila Gavin

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Table of Contents

Overview

1.

About the Author

2.

Setting

3.

Themes and Characters

4.

Literary Qualities

5.

Social Sensitivity

6.

Topics for Discussion

7.

Ideas for Reports and Papers

8.

Related Titles / Adaptations

9.

For Further Reference

10.

Copyright

11.

Overview

Winner of the 2001 Whitbread Award, Coram Boy relates the intertwining stories of Meshak Gardiner and

Alexander Ashbrook, two young men of different abilities and backgrounds who nonetheless find their fate

inextricably linked. Meshak, the mentally handicapped son of Otis Gardiner, helps his father dispose of

unwanted children; generally infants whose mothers think that Mr. Gardiner will transport them to Coram

Hospital, a newly−created facility to care for abandoned children. Able to convince the distraught mothers

that their newborns will be well−cared for in exchange for a small fee, Mr. Gardiner later hands the infants

over to Meshak, who then buries the children in the woods. Years of burying infants and selling older ones

into slavery have made Mr. Gardiner rich, but one day he is accused of blackmailing the wealthy mothers of

these children. Everyone believes that he was hanged for his crimes and that his son, Meshak, quietly slipped

away. Not until years later do people realize what happened to the Gardiners and all of the abandoned

children.

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Coram Boy 1

About the Author

Born to an English mother and Indian father, award−winning children's author Jamila Gavin entered the world

on August 9,1941, in Mussoorie, India, a town nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas. Growing up, she

spent time in both India and England, though she once told ACHUKA, a Web site devoted to British authors

and illustrators, that she saw her mother as her main source of early education.

I remember lessons on the veranda with her in India--learning to read and even learning a bit

of French.... I didn't enjoy school. I was naughty and didn't do my best. I didn't enjoy formal

learning, and did much better when I found things out for myself throughout the rest of my

life.

However much Gavin disliked school, she did enjoy music, studying in both Germany and France before

graduating from the Trinity College of Music.

Gavin is known for introducing readers to the Indian world. She often uses her experiences in India as

inspiration for her young adult works. Early in her professional career, Gavin worked for the British

Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as both a radio studio manager and a television production assistant. She

married television producer Barrie Gavin, from whom she is now divorced, and had two children with him,

Rohan Robert and Indra Helen. In 1979, Gavin began her career as an author of children's literature with the

publication of The Magic Orange Tree and Other Stories. Other books for children and young adults

followed, including the well−received "Surya" series, featuring an Indian brother and sister who set out to find

their long−lost father.

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Setting

Set in mid−1700s, Coram Boy takes readers on a trip through England, exposing them to the lifestyle of

wealthy aristocrats as well as the dreary existence of orphaned children. In the 1700s, children, in general,

faced a much different rearing than that of modern Western standards. Children unfortunate enough to be born

to the lower classes often were sent to work at a young age to