Marcus Brewer from About a Boy is the main character in the novel. At the beginning he is only 12 years old living with his mother. His mom is suffering from clinical depression which frightens Marcus as he is afraid that she might kill herself. He believes that it is because she is lonely and he spends a good deal of the time looking for a boyfriend for her mother, or at least someone that would be okay looking after him if she should die. When he meets Will it changes things for him and he is able to find the father figure he's been looking for, as well as be able to better deal with school and coming of age issues.
