But Keith and Michelle are working hard to ensure the pressures do not mount up on such a small boy, who simply treats art as "his best friend".

BBC: Kieron Williamson: Media circus surrounds 'Mini Monet'

The speaker is his son, Louis, trying to understand the death of an older friend not a fictional character but the 17-year-old boy to whom the story is dedicated.

ECONOMIST: Shorter fiction

The court was told that Aaron's father, Mohammed Khan, who was no longer in a relationship with the boy's mother, did not know his son was in hospital until 14 November, after a friend told him.

BBC: Lauren Booth