The Year of the Hangman - Softcover

Blackwood, Gary

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0142400785 ISBN 13: 9780142400784

Publisher: Speak, 2004

Synopsis

In 1776, the rebellion of the American colonies against British rule was crushed.  Now, in 1777-the year of the hangman-George Washington is awaiting execution, Benjamin Franklin's banned rebel newspaper, Liberty Tree, has gone underground, and young ne'er-do-well Creighton Brown, a fifteen-year-old Brit, has just arrived in the colonies.  Having been shipped off against his will, with nothing but a distance for English authorities, Creighton befriends Franklin, and lands a job with his print shop.  But the English general expects the spoiled yet loyal Creighton to spy on Franklin.  As battles unfold and falsehoods are exposed, Creighton must decide where his loyalties lie...a choice that could determine the fate of a nation.

About this title

About the Author

Gary L. Blackwood sold his first story when he was nineteen, and has been writing and publishing stories, articles, plays, novels, and nonfiction books regularly ever since. His stage plays have won awards and been produced in university and regional theatre. Nonfiction subjects he's covered include biography, history, and paranormal phenomena. His juvenile novels, which include WILD TIMOTHY, THE DYING SUN, and THE SHAKESPEARE STEALER, are set in a wide range of times and places, from Elizabethan England to a parallel universe. Several have received special recognition and been translated into other languages. He and his wife and kids live outside Carthage, MO.

From Publishers Weekly

In this adventurous, if somewhat unrealistic, novel, Blackwood (The Shakespeare Stealer) imagines what would have happened if the Americans lost the Revolutionary War. In 1777 (called the Year of the Hangman "because the three sevens in the date resembled the miniature gallows" and because of all the British traitors hanged), spoiled 15-year-old Creighton is taken from London by force, and sent to the Colonies to live with his uncle. But when Creighton accompanies his uncle, an unkind Englishman named Colonel Gower, to a new post in West Florida, their boat is seized by patriot privateers, led by the infamous Benedict Arnold. They bring the prisoners to the Spanish territory of New Orleans and imprison Gower, but take Creighton to live with Benjamin Franklin. Creighton agrees to spy for Gower, discovering that Franklin publishes a revolutionary paper, but his conscience begins to bother him. Not only are Franklin and his friends kind to Creighton but the lines between what is "good or bad, right or wrong" blur. A few characters seem stilted, such as Sophie, a hot-headed, French-speaking maid, and Peter, a warmhearted giant. But history buffs will recognize some clever dialogue ("It's a far more difficult thing to make up your own mind about what's right and act accordingly," Arnold tells Creighton) and the hero struggles with compelling questions, such as the meaning of honor and the value of war. Jail escapes, duels, code-breaking and more keep the story moving. Ages 14-up.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Speak
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0142400785
• ISBN 13: 9780142400784
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 261