The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon was published in 2003. The title is based on a quote from a Sherlock Holmes story Silver Blaze by Arthur Conan Doyle. The novel itself often references Holmes as the protagonist following a set of clues to solve a mystery in a true ‘mystery’ genre style.

The novel arrived at a time when readers were willing to embrace books that featured a young protagonist. Prior to this, teen characters were restricted to young adult fiction. The emergence of JK Rowing’s Harry Potter and Philip Pullman’s Lyra Belacqua, both young main characters, paved a way for others to feature youthful protagonists. Although Rowling focuses on a younger audience, Pullman and Haddon declare that they were not limiting their potential target audience.

Unlike Rowling and Pullman who place their characters in a special world and gift them some special powers, Haddon’s protagonist Christopher Boone is special in a unique way. He is autistic. Although the novel itself does not specifically say this, the reader is clearly aware of Christopher’s nature and press releases surrounding the book identify him as having autism. Haddon draws on his experience as a carer to interpret the experience of autistic children. However, the autistic community has criticized the book for offering an inaccurate depiction of the condition.

Whilst autistic children may have significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviour and interests, it is these features that make Christopher an interesting character and an authentic narrator of his own story in this novel. He has an excellent memory and unemotional nature and is uniquely observant; he remembers every physical detail of his surroundings, including entire conversations, facial expressions, and even smells. In Christopher’s own words, his memory ‘is like a film’. As a bildungsroman novel, that is, one that follows a person’s formative years or spiritual education – a coming of age story – we see Christopher at a key stage of his life emerging toward a more mature adult-like phase. The text also explores Christopher’s parents’ coping mechanisms and highlights the struggles they face.

The novel was well-received, winning the Whitbread Book of the Year Award, the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, and the Booktrust Teenage Prize, in addition to numerous other awards.