The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time A Novel (Costa Novel Award)

The world, to me, is a place of logic and patterns, of prime numbers and exact truths. I am Christopher John Francis Boone, and I know a great many facts about space and mathematics. My life in Swindon, England, follows a predictable order, and that is how I prefer it. Things that are not logical or predictable make me feel confused and sometimes angry. So, when I found Wellington, Mrs. Shears's dog, lying dead on her lawn with a garden fork sticking out of him, it was a mystery that demanded solving. Wellington was a good dog, a poodle, and he deserved to have the person who killed him found.

I decided to write a book about my investigation, a murder mystery, just like Sherlock Holmes. My teacher, Siobhan, said it was a good idea. I began by gathering evidence, observing the scene, and asking questions. This meant talking to people, which is often difficult because I don't understand their facial expressions or their metaphors. I prefer direct questions and direct answers. My father, Ed, told me to stop asking questions about Wellington, saying it was not my business, but I knew I had to find the truth.

As I continued my investigation, I discovered things that did not fit into my logical understanding of the world. I learned that my father and Mrs. Shears had been having an affair. This was confusing, as I thought my father did not like Mrs. Shears very much. Then, in my search for clues, I found letters hidden in my father's bedroom. These letters were from my mother, Judy. But my mother had died two years ago, of a heart attack, or so I had been told. The letters proved she was alive and living in London.

This discovery was like a complete rearrangement of all the facts I knew about my life. My father had lied to me, not just about Wellington, but about my mother. He had told me she died of a heart attack, then later, of pneumonia. Lies are confusing and dangerous because they mean that what you think is true is not true at all. The realization that my father had killed Wellington, and had also lied about my mother's death, made me feel very unsafe. If he could kill Wellington, and lie about my mother, he could do anything. I could not trust him anymore.

I knew I had to leave. I had to go to London to find my mother. The journey was very hard. The trains were crowded, and there were too many people and too many sounds and smells. It was overwhelming, and I felt sick and scared. But I used my map and my logical thinking, and I kept going. I had to be brave, even when it was difficult to understand what people were saying or to navigate the complex underground system. Eventually, I found my mother and Mr. Shears. My mother was surprised to see me because she did not know my father had been keeping her letters from me.

Living with my mother and Mr. Shears in London was different. It was not like my routines at home, and that was hard. My presence caused problems between my mother and Mr. Shears, and soon, my mother decided to come back to Swindon with me. I wanted to take my A-level mathematics exam, which is very important for my future, for going to university.

My father tried to make things right. He bought me a puppy, Sandy, and he promised that he would earn my trust again, slowly. He said he was sorry for everything. I still found it difficult to be in the same room with him sometimes, but I understood that he was trying. I passed my A-level math exam with top grades, which means I am very good at mathematics. I know I can do anything now. I went to London on my own, I solved the mystery of Wellington, and I found my mother. I wrote a book, and that means I can do anything. I will go to university, and I will be a scientist.