Anthony De Sa’s story collection, 2008’s Barnacle Love, was shortlisted for both the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Toronto Book Award. The author’s long-awaited first novel is a powerful follow-up to this impressive debut. Kicking the Sky is set in a Portuguese neighbourhood in Toronto, and uses as its starting point the 1977 rape and murder of Emanuel Jaques, a young shoeshine boy originally from the Azores. The novel begins with Emanuel’s disappearance and ends with his murderers being convicted, but the real-life tragedy forms the backdrop rather than the focus of De Sa’s story.

The book’s main events occur on the periphery of the bizarre, incomprehensible, sexualized, and sometimes terrifying realm of adulthood. The narrator, Antonio Rebelo (who also appeared in Barnacle Love), reflects on his childhood growing up with immigrant parents who work too much and leave the children to fend for themselves. As a 12-year-old, Antonio feuds with his sister, shares secrets with his wild aunt, and hides his back-alley life from his parents.

At least initially, Kicking the Sky does not boast the kind of amped-up drama that its background context might lead readers to expect. However, the confident narrative voice guides the reader into increasingly dark territory, and the Bildungsroman gradually morphs into full-fledged horror. There are children running drugs, boys forced into prostitution, and girls impregnated by their stepfathers. The church exploits its followers; its followers exploit religious belief. Puppies are murdered. Babies die.

What is the point of such a relentlessly violent novel? As an author, De Sa is akin to Antonio’s Aunt Edite, a journalist who feels compelled to unveil the truth. We need to tell the truth, she explains, so that we can move on. If there is any optimism to be found, it is in the notion that some people survive childhoods like these and emerge intact.