Product Description

Sam Findley and Charlie Perrin. Best friends. At least they used to be. But a year ago Sam cut Charlie out of his life—no explanation, no discussion, nothing.

Fast-forward one year, and both Sam's and Charlie's lives are spiraling out of control. Sam has a secret he's finding harder and harder to hide, and Charlie is dealing with an increasingly absent dad and a dealer whose threats are anything but empty.

As told in alternating chapters from Sam and Charlie during the sticky Florida summer before their senior year, the ex-best friends are thrown together once again when they have no one else to turn to.

P. E. Ryan's Saints of Augustine is a witty, enthralling, and unforgettable novel about the power of friendship.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #367057 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-01
• Released on: 2007-06-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Teens Charlie and Sam were best friends, until Sam stopped speaking to Charlie. In his first book for young people, Ryan (Send Me, 2006) slowly reveals the cause of the rift in chapters that alternate between the two boys' viewpoints. Over a Florida summer, each boy wrestles alone with problems. Following his mother's death, Charlie worries about his shut-in dad, who drinks too much. He escapes by smoking pot, a habit that's put him into deep debt to a threatening dealer. Sam's dad lives with his male lover, and Sam, who has been hiding his own male attractions, worries if he is gay, too. When each boy reaches a crisis point, he finally turns to the other. In a less-gifted author's hands, this novel could have felt crowded. But Ryan offers complex views of family lives, realistic language (including some anti-gay slurs), and convincing characters in Sam and Charlie. Sam's new romance with another guy is a buoyant subplot; just as welcome is the sensitive story of two teen boys forging a close, honest friendship. Engberg, Gillian

Booklist (starred review)
"Ryan offers complex views of family lives, realistic language and convincing characters in Sam and Charlie."

Young Adult Books Central
"P.E. Ryan has created not one, but two complex, genuine main characters. One of the best books of the year."

Customer Reviews

Honest and true
This is a very, very good entry into the growing number of gay-themed young adult fiction - many of which have good intentions but are clunkily executed. If you want to see how a real writer writes, read this tale.

P.E. Ryan has convincingly written a story juggling two narrators, Sam and Charlie, and their separate struggles. Both young men, estranged from one another, have "lost" a parent yet continue to suffer alone. The events that led to the estrangement, and the fallout from it are presented realistically without any unnecessary melodrama or eye-rolling resolutions. I started the first chapters of the book not sure if I was all that interested in Charlie as a character, but Ryan drew me in and I was surprised by how absorbed I became and I couldn't put the book down until I was finished.

"Saints of Augustine" is a great read, better written than many other gay-themed YA books, and deserves to find a wider audience. Here's hoping it does.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too
Ever since Charlie's mother died, his father has been distant, drinking too much and never wanting to talk, least of all about the loss they've suffered. Charlie deals with things by smoking pot all the time--even though he now owes more money than he can come up with to a drug dealer, and even though his habit is threatening his relationship with his girlfriend. Things would be easier if his former best friend, Sam, was still around. But their friendship ended abruptly when Sam told Charlie, without explanation, that he no longer wanted to see him.

What Charlie doesn't know is that Sam has his own problems. His parents have split up, and his mom's horrible boyfriend has moved in with them. Sam's father, meanwhile, is in a relationship with another man, and Sam doesn't know what he'd do if anyone found out. But Sam is hiding an even bigger secret: he is also gay. When Sam meets a boy with whom he shares a mutual attraction, the truth he's tried to deny threatens to come out.

SAINTS OF AUGUSTINE is told from both Sam's and Charlie's points of view, in alternating chapters. Both of them seem very true-to-life, and the dialogue is realistic. The story also has a very honest resolution, and the plot kept me interested all the way through. It's also nice to see a young adult novel that deals so frankly with issues facing gay teenagers. All in all, this is a terrific book.

Reviewed by: Katie Hayes

A coming-of-age classic
This book really took me by surprise. It's a coming-of-age story about two friends, both 16-year-old boys, one gay and one straight, growing up in Florida and trying to deal with very different inner conflicts. I was expecting a typical coming-of-age tale, ultimately pleasing but perhaps not as significant a read as what some would say are weightier novels. But this book is so well written, characters are so well developed, and the story is so extremely true to life, that it just blew me away. The author, P.E. Ryan, seems to have targeted this novel at young adults, but it reads at a totally adult level and treats its subject with the geatest of respect. In the end, I was enthralled with the tale of Sam and Charlie, and, as with all great books, did not want it to end.