Boy With Wings - by Mark Mustian

Book Synopsis

In the Jim Crow South, a baby is born with strange, wing-like appendages. The townsfolk call him a devil. His mother calls him Johnny Cruel-and to save him, she fakes his death and runs. So begins a life on the margins.

Set against the backdrop of 1930s and '40s America, Boy With Wings is a poignant work of Southern literary fiction about one boy's extraordinary body and his lifelong struggle to belong. From a backwoods turpentine camp to a traveling freak show, from found families of outcasts to the halls of power in Tallahassee, Johnny's journey explores the lines between acceptance and exploitation, isolation and love.

Is Johnny a monster, an angel, or just a boy trying to live in peace? As he searches for meaning-through love, loss, betrayal, and brutal truths-Johnny must decide whether to keep hiding... or rise on his own terms.

Told in vivid, lyrical prose, this tale of identity blends elements of Southern Gothic, outsider fiction, and found family stories. Boy With Wings is a powerful meditation on identity, stigma, resilience, and the quiet miracles that help us soar.

For readers of The Secret Life of Bees and The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, this is a novel that lingers-long after the final page is turned.

Review Quotes

"Boy with Wings is a brilliant fever dream of a novel, a haunting coming-of-age story reminiscent of both Franz Kafka and Charles Dickens. Depression-era America and the carnival life is rendered vividly, but so is the beauty and courage of, yes, a boy with wings."-Chris Bohjalian, author of The Jackal's Mistress

"A weird and wonderful tale, full of mystics, magic, and deep tenderness. Boy with Wings is vibrant and alive, the kind of book where the blood pumps mightily, truly all heart. It's fabulous."-Kristen Arnett, author of Stop Me If You've Heard This One and Mostly Dead Things

"The human spirit is hard to break. Mark Mustian's Boy with Wings demonstrates the possibility of love and hope in the face of unimaginable hardships. A rich and powerful novel. Highly recommended."-Jeff VanderMeer, author of Annihilation and Absolution

"Mark Mustian writes with the crisp, sharp, hard-hitting economy of a seasoned fighter. And combine that with the desperation, the gnawing, the fierce and loyal love of a great tale, and Boy with Wings delivers a knockout."-Michael Farris Smith, author of Salvage This World and Desperation Road

"In this propulsive tale of the magic lurking inside our mortality, Mark Mustian has conjured a surreal hero. Here is a translucent rendering of boyhood and aberration, of the fault lines of race and the frailty of religion. In sentences that are equally primal and poetic, Mustian transports us through the shacks, camps, circuses, and back alleys of the Depression-era South, asking a still-resonant question: What's the price of belonging in a society that's already broken?"-Katy Simpson Smith, author of The Everlasting

"A magical, highly imaginative tour de force. . . . Boldly original and unexpectedly profound."-Readers' Favorite Reviews

"Mustian's story is a study in acceptance, diversity, kindness, and the possibility of marvels in life. . . . Vibrant with discovery, Boy with Wings is a winner."-Midwest Book Review

"Riveting. . . . An evocative historical novel that celebrates distinctive individuals in the Depression-era South."-Foreword Reviews

"In this imaginative novel filled with magical realism, religion and morality are turned inside out and upside down." -Southern Literary Review

• GRAND PRIZE FOR FICTION - 2025, Next Generation Indies Book Awards
• ERIC HOFFER DA VINCI EYE AWARD FOR BEST COVER DESIGN
• FINALIST - HAWTHORNE AWARD FOR WRITING, American Writing Awards
• BRONZE MEDAL WINNER, HISTORICAL FICTION, Independent Publisher Book Awards