Growing up is hard. You know this. And when your mother has X-ray eyes and dances like a wobbling bag of water? When your father’s idea of fun is to put all your money in a savings account and make you get up at 5 am every Sunday morning? When Kenny, Percival Thorton High’s big show-off, is after Christina Parker - your Christina Parker? And when you have a shrimp of a little sister who is the bawlingest little six year old girl in the whole of Riverland? Then growing up is something you not sure you can manage at all. Who in their right mind could? Who? You?

All Over Again is an enchanting coming of age story covering a year in the life of a young boy, as he makes the critical move from childhood and has to learn what it means to be a man, and that there is more to it than growing a beard and driving a car. He worries about disappointing his mother, loves but is often frustrated by his father, has to deal with constant harassment from his little sister, and is often thwarted by the high school know-it-all.

This endearing slice of boyhood is a remarkable, funny and often touching story that can resonate with young and old. Written as an episodic novel, All Over Again deals with several issues relevant to today’s youth. It touches on migration, the first blush of love, the tribulations of puberty and the ensuing joys and insecurities of youth all will exuberant humour and sensitivity. All Over Again is a great lens through which young adults, especially but not only young males, can explore some of the issues they grapple with.

Equally, adults can reflect on their own youth, or understand what the young people in their lives are going through. Rooted in over 30 years of theatre, prose and poetry performance writing, All over Again creates a novel that is linguistically exciting with a bold narrative style that pulls you into it.

The novel is the winner of the inaugural Burt Award for Caribbean Literature (2014).