It is the Spring of 1985 and William Lynch is at that difficult age. He lives in the town of Sneer on Ireland's east coast, where the main industries are a mental hospital and a carcass-burning factory "whose stench enveloped the town like a fart in a car". Happy-go-lucky but also, quite frankly, bloody lazy, William is a constant source of disappointment to both his parents and his teachers - like Ms O'Leary, a woman so highly strung that "she made chickens look relaxed".
In an attempt to make him work harder, William's folks decide to send him away to boarding school. William is as happy as a sandboy because this means he can avoid the dreaded exam retakes and take the whole school holidays to do as little as possible. But come September, life at the new school is very different indeed for William and things will never be quite the same again . . .
