Lost Memory of Skin

The young man at the centre of Russell Banks's uncompromising and morally complex new novel must create a life for himself in the wake of incarceration. Known in his new identity only as the Kid, he is shackled to a GPS monitoring device and forbidden to go near where children might gather. He takes up residence under a south Florida causeway, in a makeshift encampment with other convicted sex offenders. Enter the Professor, a university sociologist of enormous size and intellect who finds in the Kid the perfect subject for his research. But when the Professor's past resurfaces and threatens to destroy his carefully constructed world, the Kid must reconsider everything he has come to believe, and choose what course of action to take when faced with an unexpectedly hard decision. Lost Memory of Skin showcases Banks at his most compelling, his reckless sense of humour and intense empathy at full bore.