DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

The Boy with Two Heads

Andy Mulligan author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Penguin Random House Children's UK

Published:7th May '15

Should be back in stock very soon

The Boy with Two Heads cover

The incredible story of a boy with two heads, from Andy Mulligan, the acclaimed author of Trash.

A living, breathing, talking head, with a rude, sharp tongue and an evil sense of humour. It knows all your darkest thoughts and it's not afraid to say what it thinks ...to anybody. That's what happens to eleven-year-old Richard Westlake, and life becomes very, very complicated.

How would you feel if you woke up and found another head growing out of your neck? A living, breathing, TALKING head, with a rude, sharp tongue and an evil sense of humour. It knows all your darkest thoughts and it’s not afraid to say what it thinks . . . to ANYBODY.

That's what happens to eleven-year-old Richard Westlake, and life becomes very, very complicated.

Part thriller, part horror, part comedy – this is one of the most riveting novels about fear and friendship that you will ever read.


Andy Mulligan won the 2011 Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, and his international bestseller, Trash, is now a major film – directed by Stephen Daldry and with screenplay by Richard Curtis.

[A] simple, funny and very engaging premise . . . Mulligan rewrites tragedy as a triumph, and turns the story into a neat way to explore friendship and tolerance. -- Josh Lacey * Guardian *
Mulligan certainly delivers in this extraordinary examination of grief . . . A highly original, emotionally-charged black comedy/thriller. A worthy successor to Mulligan’s excellent Trash. -- Sally Morris * Daily Mail *
I really enjoyed this funny, sad and truthful fable . . . Mulligan makes a great deal of friendship and the huge source of strength and support it can be. * The Book Bag *
A poignant and heart-warming story about life and all the hardships and troubles that this can bring . . . A fascinating and brilliant read . . . Another blinding story from Andy Mulligan, which delivers the unexpected with superb imaginative qualities. -- Vincent Ripley * Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books *
Fast-paced and irresistibly readable. Two heads, it appears, really are better than one -- Michael Cart * Booklist *

  • Short-listed for Berkshire Book Award 2014 (UK)

ISBN: 9780552573474

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 25mm

Weight: 277g

400 pages