Gallows Hill (novel)

Last updated
Gallows Hill
GallowsHill.gif
First edition
Author Lois Duncan
Cover artistCynthia Torp
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish
SubjectSalem Witch Trials
GenreSupernatural thriller
Publisher Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Publication date
May 1, 1997
Media typePaperback
Pages227

Gallows Hill (1997) is a supernatural thriller novel for young adults by Lois Duncan. It was her first and only young adult novel written after the death of her daughter. It was written eight years after her previous young adult novel, Don't Look Behind You . It is about a girl who moves to a small town with a secret.

Contents

Plot

Sarah Zoltanne is an extraordinary girl. Her widowed mother, Rosemary, decides to move to Pinecrest because of Ted Thompson. When Sarah starts school as the new pupil, she makes no friends. Role-playing takes on a terrifying cast when 17-year-old Sarah, who is posing as a fortune-teller for a school fair, begins to see actual visions that can predict the future. Frightened, the other students brand her a witch, setting off a chain of events that mirror the centuries-old Salem witch trials in more ways than one.

Reception

Gallows Hill has received several honors and awards. In 1997, Gallows Hill was designated a Junior Library Guild Selection. [1] A year later, the novel was listed as an American Library Association (ALA) Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, [2] and the New York Public Library listed it as a Book for the Teen Age. [1] In 2000, Gallows Hill won the Nevada Young Readers' Award in the Young Adult category. [3] One year later, it was given the 20002001 Tennessee Volunteer State Book Award for Young Adults. [4]

Film adaptation

A TV film called I've Been Waiting For You (1998), loosely based on the novel, was made. It was an NBC Movie of the Week [1] and starred Sarah Chalke, Markie Post, Ben Foster, and Soleil Moon Frye.

See also

Related Research Articles

Andre Alice Norton was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, who also wrote works of historical and contemporary fiction. She wrote primarily under the pen name Andre Norton, but also under Andrew North and Allen Weston. She was the first woman to be Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy, to be SFWA Grand Master, and to be inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tituba</span> 17th-century slave girl

Tituba (Barbados) was an enslaved woman who was one of the first to be accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials of 1692–1693. She was brought to colonial Massachusetts from Barbados by Samuel Parris, the minister of Salem Village. She was pivotal in the trials because she confessed to witchcraft when examined by the authorities, giving credence to the accusations. She accused the two other women, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, of the same crime. She was imprisoned for over a year but never went to trial. It is unknown what happened to her after the case against her was dismissed by a grand jury in May 1693.

<i>The House of the Scorpion</i> American young adult science fiction novel

The House of the Scorpion is a 2002 science fiction young adult novel by Nancy Farmer. It is set in the future and mostly takes place in Opium, a country which separates Aztlán and the United States. The main character Matteo Alacrán, or Matt, is a young clone of a drug lord of the same name, usually called "El Patrón". It is a story about the struggle to survive as a free individual and the search for a personal identity.

Eric Elfman is an American writer interested in science fiction, fantasy, UFOs and paranormal events. He is the author of 13 books for middle-grade and young adult readers, including the Accelerati Trilogy, which he co-wrote with Neal Shusterman. Among Elfman's other books are Almanac of Alien Encounters, Almanac of the Gross, Disgusting, and Totally Repulsive, and Very Scary Almanac.

<i>Looking for Alaska</i> 2005 novel by John Green

Looking for Alaska is American author John Green‘s debut novel, published in March 2005 by Dutton Juvenile. Based on his time at Indian Springs School, Green wrote the novel as a result of his desire to create meaningful young adult fiction. The characters and events of the plot are grounded in Green's life, while the story itself is fictional.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lois Duncan</span> American writer, novelist, poet, and journalist

Lois Duncan Steinmetz, known as Lois Duncan, was an American writer, novelist, poet, and journalist. She is best known for her young-adult novels, and has been credited by historians as a pioneering figure in the development of young-adult fiction, particularly in the genres of horror, thriller, and suspense.

<i>Locked in Time</i> Book by Lois Duncan

Locked in Time is a 1985 suspense novel by Lois Duncan. The story centers around Nore, a seventeen-year-old girl who moves into a new home with her father and her new stepfamily. Soon after she meets her stepmother, stepbrother, and stepsister for the first time, Nore begins to suspect something is not quite right about her stepfamily. The author states that the novel explores some of the issues surrounding having eternal life. Duncan says she developed the idea for the novel when one of her daughters was thirteen years old and was having issues with her body image. Duncan mentions that her daughter was "taking everything out" on her, and she began to wonder what it would be like if her daughter never outgrew her adolescence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Todd Strasser</span> American novelist

Todd Strasser is an American writer of more than 140 young-adult and middle grade novels and many short stories and works of non-fiction, some written under the pen names Morton Rhue and T.S. Rue.

Marcus Sedgwick was a British writer and illustrator. He authored several young adult and children's books and picture books, a work of nonfiction and several novels for adults, and illustrated a collection of myths and a book of folk tales for adults. According to School Library Journal his "most acclaimed titles" were those for young adults.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharon Draper</span> American childrens writer and educator

Sharon Mills Draper is an American children's writer, professional educator, and the 1997 National Teacher of the Year. She is a five-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for books about the young and adolescent African-American experience. She is known for her Hazelwood and Jericho series, Copper Sun,Double Dutch, Out of My Mind and Romiette and Julio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural depictions of the Salem witch trials</span>

Cultural depictions of the Salem witch trials abound in art, literature and popular media in the United States, from the early 19th century to the present day. The literary and dramatic depictions are discussed in Marion Gibson's Witchcraft Myths in American Culture and see also Bernard Rosenthal's Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692

Mary Downing Hahn is an American writer of young adult novels and a former school librarian. She is known for books such as Stepping On The Cracks and Wait Till Helen Comes. She published her first book in 1979 and has since written over 30 novels. Her novel What We Saw was published in September 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa McMann</span> American author

Lisa McMann is an American author and the creator of The Unwanteds and The Unwanteds Quests series for young readers and the WAKE trilogy for young adults.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adele Griffin</span> American young adult fiction author

Adele Griffin is an American fiction author, writing numerous novels for adults, young adults, and kids. Her novels Sons of Liberty and Where I Want to Be were both National Book Award finalists.

<i>Smile</i> (comic book) Graphic novel written by Raina Telgemeier

Smile is an autobiographical graphic novel written by Raina Telgemeier. It was published in February of 2010 by Graphix, an imprint of Scholastic Inc. The novel provides an account of the author's life, characterized by dental procedures and struggles with fitting in, from sixth grade to high school. The book originated as a webcomic, which was serialized on Girlamatic. It is most appropriate for readers between fourth and sixth grade. Smile has had a pedagogical impact, and reviews have been written on this novel.

Trudy Krisher is an American author of young adult novels, children's books, a college textbook, and a scholarly biography. She is a former professor of liberal arts in Dayton, Ohio.

<i>Finding My Voice</i>

Finding My Voice is a young adult novel by Marie Myung-Ok Lee. First published in 1992, Finding My Voice was republished in 2001 by Harper Trophy, and was reissued in 2021. Finding My Voice is generally considered to be the "first teen novel released by a major publisher with a contemporary Asian American protagonist by an Asian American author". An excerpt from Finding My Voice was included in the anthology Prejudice: stories about hate, ignorance, revelation, and transformation and in Literary themes for students: the American dream: examining diverse literature to understand and compare universal themes.

<i>Dear Martin</i> 2017 young adult novel by Nic Stone

Dear Martin, published in 2017 by Crown Publishing Group, is a young adult novel by Nic Stone. It is Stone's debut novel, written as a reaction to the murder of Jordan Davis. The book appeared as #4 on The New York Times Best Seller list.

<i>Sadie</i> (novel) 2018 novel by Courtney Summers

Sadie is a novel written by Courtney Summers. The book was released on September 4, 2018, and is told from two perspectives: some chapters offering Sadie's point of view and some chapters being styled as transcripts from a podcast called "The Girls" hosted by a man named West McCray. The release of the book was accompanied by the release of a mock true-crime podcast titled The Girls: Find Sadie which is available on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.

Shivaun Plozza is an Australian author of books for children and young adults. She also works as an editor, manuscript assessor and illustrator.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "BOOKS AND AWARDS". Loisduncan.arquettes.com. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  2. "Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers". Young Adult Library Services Association. 29 September 2006. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  3. "Nevada Young Readers' Award Past Winners". Nevada Library Association. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  4. "History of the Volunteer State Book Award" (PDF). Tennessee Association of Book Librarians. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 1, 2014. Retrieved February 15, 2015.

Further reading