Books for adults with a child protagonist?

[ShelfObsessed]

I'm trying to find books on this topic for a book group. I first thought of They Came Like Swallows which I loved but it's about a pandemic and I want to avoid that. Most people have already read The Kite Runner and Room. Half have read Great Expectations and Oliver Twist. Some have read David Copperfield.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

TIA

Incredible book.

Barbara Kingsolver wrote four versions of the book in order to get the narration for each child for the final version.

Boy swallows universe the protagonist is 12 year old boy Eli

The Almost Bridesmaid - brilliant book

Unknown! The Unknown Bridesmaid.
Blurb:

When Julia was eight, she was asked to be a bridesmaid at her beautiful cousin Iris’s wedding. Her mother saw this as a chore – expensive, inconvenient – but Julia was thrilled. When the time came, even the fact that her bridesmaid’s dress didn’t fit, and was plain cream rather than the pink she’d hoped for, couldn’t ruin the day. But after this, things began to go wrong for Julia, starting with an episode involving her cousin’s baby, a pram and a secret trip round the block. 

A lifetime later, Julia is a child psychologist who every day deals with young girls said to be behaving badly. Some are stealing, some are running away from home, some are terribly untidy, some won’t eat or get out of bed. Julia has a special knack with these girls. She understands which really are troubled, and which are at the mercy of the way they are seen by the adults around them. 

But one day, Julia’s own troubled past starts to creep into her present. And as she struggles to understand her childhood self, she must confront the possibility that the truth may not be as devastating as she feared.

Boy in the striped pyjamas

Spies by Michael Frayn

This is an excellent book, if quite sad, told from the point of view of an 11 year old boy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon_English

The Bone People by Keri Hulme.

Love your list @CatChant, DWJ fans have excellent taste

To Kill a Mockingbird

A lot of John Irving books, but A Prayer for Owen Meany is good.

The Fountain Overflows and it’s sequels are astonishingly good!

LP Hartley’s The Go-Between.
Henry James, What Maisie Knew.
Emma Donoghue’s Room.
Janet Fitch, White Oleander.
Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones.

Boys don't cry by Fíona Scarlett

A Long Way From Verona by Jane Gardam

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

I got this on audible after your recommendation, I couldn't stop listening, really enjoyed it, thanks.

@Magenta82 I'm so pleased , it's one of my favourites

Oh how interesting! It's fabulous isn't it?

Always Coming Home : Ursula LeGuin.

Told from several points of view, but the main character starts as a child as grows through the story

one of the most moving and peaceful books I have ever read, I often go back to it in times of trouble.

What Maisie Knew - Henry James

tells the story of the sensitive daughter of divorced, irresponsible and narcissistic parents.

Empire of the Sun, JG Ballard

@Springduckling that is one of my favourite books!

The Universe Versus Alex Woods
The Boy Who Could See Demons
Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend
My Name is Leon

The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley

Sophies World
Oranges are Not the Only Fruit
My Father's Rifle

This is brilliant. It’s just come back to me that I read this.

the ocean at the end of the lane by Neil Gaiman too