Venus as a Boy (novella)

{{short description|2004 novella by Luke Sutherl}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}

{{Use British English|date=February 2015}}

{{Infobox book |

| name = Venus as a Boy

| image = Venus as a Boy (novella).jpg

| caption = First edition

| author = Luke Sutherland

| cover_artist =

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| series =

| genre = Novella

| publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing

| pub_date = {{Start date and age|2004|04}}

| media_type = Print (Paperback)

| pages =

| isbn = 0-7475-6905-3

| oclc= 57282918

| preceded_by =

| followed_by =

}}

Venus as a Boy is a 2004 fiction novella by Scottish writer and musician Luke Sutherland, his third publication following two earlier novels, Jelly Roll (1998) and Sweetmeat (2002).{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3614846/He-spent-his-life-scattering-his-golden-arrows.html|title=He spent his life scattering his golden arrows|journal=The Daily Telegraph|last=Ness|first=Patrick|date=2004-04-05|access-date=2018-02-02|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}

It is set briefly in South Ronaldsay, Orkney, an island off the coast of Scotland though it is largely set in Soho, London. The author purports to tell the posthumous story of Désirée, who apparently was a clandestine peer of his growing up in South Ronaldsay. Désirée's audio-recorded memoirs presented to the novel's author by Désirée's friend and confidant Pascal serve as the narrative throughout majority of the story.Arditti, M. (2004). Book review. In The Independent on Sunday, 21 April 2004. [https://archive.today/20131129000512/http://arts.independent.co.uk/books/reviews/article56886.ece Online version of article]

The novella draws on Sutherland's own childhood in the Orkney Islands.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/mar/27/featuresreviews.guardianreview21|title=Review: Venus As a Boy by Luke Sutherland|last=O'Grady|first=Carrie|date=2004-03-27|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-02-02}} Sutherland and his sister were the only Scots-Africans on South Ronaldsay, having been adopted by white parents.