The Outside Boy by Jeanine Cummins, 360 pages

It is 1959 and 12-year old Christy Hurley lives in Ireland with his father and extended family.  They are travellers, tinkers, nomads.  Christy's grandfather dies, the extended family settles down for a time so that Christy and his cousin Martin can get confirmed and Christy discovers a family secret that changes his world.

This is one of those rare novels that is so beautifully written that I didn't want it to end.