The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne

Cyril Avery grows up knowing that he's not a 'real Avery' as his adopted parents tell him so all the time. He is starved of affection, and feels like he is just a lodger in his own house. His adopted father is a wealthy businessman who doesn't agree with paying taxes and does a couple of spells in prison as a result. His adopted mother is a writer, but doesn't want fame and fortune for her writing. All in all a very strange household to be bringing up a small boy.

In the beginning of the book you find out that Cyril was born to a sixteen year old Irish girl, and owing to the location and times is cast out of the village by the local priest and her family. She goes to Dublin and manages to secure a job, and end up living with a friend she makes on the coach to Dublin, but quickly realised that she will be unable to keep her baby without any support and is forced to give him up to a " hunchbacked Redemptorist Nun" to find a couple to adopt him. None of which Cyril himself is aware of for most of the his life.

Cyril realises at a young age that he is gay. At that time in Ireland this was illegal, and he has to hide who he is from everyone, including his best friend on whom he has a crush. This gets Cyril into many awkward  and dangerous situations, until he is forced to flee Ireland altogether and he finds himself in Amsterdam.

The book is cleverly, and we'll written, and gives a good idea of the times, and the difficulties of being gay at that time - especially with the initial outbreak of AIDS. Definitely worth reading.