"The tragic and heartbreaking beginning of loss and memory speaks to those who have ever lost someone truly special in our hearts, while the hope that the author found after years of neglect and abusive relationships will easily speak to the spark of hope we all hold in our hearts in the darkest of times." -Anthony Avina Essential for fans of Nikita Gil and Ocean Vuong, Cryptic Clockwork is a love letter to life from a young boy who had known little joy from it. From losing his parents at a young age, to suffering ongoing abuse at the hands of his adoptive family and later an ex-boyfriend, Renley writes through these experiences with incredible immediacy and presence. It’s a brutally raw exploration of grief and love, as he searches for a way out of the cycle, to find his way home. It is a book about life. It is about loss. It is about love. But ultimately, Cryptic Clockwork is about healing and resilience in the face of impossible circumstances. It is about retaining one’s softness, even in a harsh world. Written with unflinching honesty, this is one youth finding his voice after a lifetime of being silenced in a powerful debut by a boy taken too soon.