Augustine's Lunch

Fourteen-year-old Gus loves to cook. His family have no idea where his talent comes from, but they enjoy the delicious meals he cooks. At school, his gourmet lunches are particularly popular with Brother Nicholas, one of the teachers. But then a new boy starts at Gus’s school, and everything changes. Steve thinks cooking is for girls, and to Gus’s bewilderment, Steve bullies him and encourages the other boys to ostracise him for his culinary talents.

The only bright spark in Gus’s life is elegant, sophisticated Trinity, who befriends him on the bus. Gus throws all his energy into cooking her a magnificent meal . only to discover that she’s been using him to get closer to Luke, Gus’s popular, good-looking older brother.

When Gus drowns his sorrows in a Saturday night binge, leading to confrontations with both Luke and Steve, he feels his life can’t possibly get any worse. Even Brother Nicholas seems to have turned against him – divine inspiration has led him to throw Gus, Steve and some of Gus’s old friends together on the school survival skills camp. But when the boys become hopelessly lost in the bush and hunger strikes, it’s Gus they turn to. In a very funny twist, Gus’s ‘magic’ meal solves all his problems, and Augustine’s lunch finally reigns triumphant in the school canteen.