 | |
| Cover artist | Tristan Elwell |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Alternate history |
| Publisher | Dutton Children's Books |
Publication date | February 9, 2004 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 261 |
| ISBN | 0-525-46921-4 |
| OCLC | 54471321 |
The Year of the Hangman is a young adult alternate history novel written by Gary Blackwood and published in 2002. It was a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year in 2002. [1]
Creighton Brown is an adolescent living in Britain in 1777. He often gets into trouble, much to the concern of his mother. One night, after drinking and gambling with his peers, Creighton is kidnapped by a group of men and taken aboard a boat. He cries out for help, but is struck in the face, and passes out.
Upon waking up, Creighton finds that the ship is already on the open ocean and heading for the Colonies. He is also informed that his mother is behind his kidnapping, having sent a letter to his uncle, requesting that Creighton be raised in the Colonies under his guidance so that he may become a better person.
The ship lands in Charles Town, where the crew meets Creighton's Uncle, Colonel Gower. He is not in his office, and they find the Colonel at the guard post, watching a soldier being whipped. When asked what the man was being punished for, Gower reveals that a copy of the Liberty Tree, a patriotic American newspaper run by the Sons of Liberty, was found in his possession. He also informs Creighton that he has a new post in Florida, and the ship departs again after a few days. While traveling, the ship is attacked by American rebels, led by Benedict Arnold. The rebels capture Gower, planning to use him as leverage in a prisoner exchange for captured American officers. Creighton pretends to be an indentured to avoid being ransomed, earning the sympathy and friendship of Peter, a private in the rebel army. In Creighton's final exchange with his uncle, he is instructed to spy on the Americans for information.
The captured ship changes its course to New Orleans, and Creighton is invited to live with Peter, who has been staying with Benjamin Franklin. Creighton meets Sophie Doucet, a housemaid who is working for Franklin, who runs a print shop behind the house.
Creighton visits Gower as he is being held in a makeshift prison, and Gower instructs Creighton to fetch him a gun. He reluctantly agrees, although he does not know how he will obtain it. During the day, Creighton assists Sophie and Franklin with setting lines of type for the printing press. When Franklin and Sophie leave the printing room one night, Creighton looks at the tray of type Franklin had been setting the night before and sees that they are prints for the Liberty Tree. Creighton secretly prints out a single sheet for himself and takes it with him, planning to share his newfound information with his uncle.
Peter enters the house carrying several pistols, announcing that Arnold has gotten into a duel. Franklin is able to talk both parties into resolving their issues, and the reluctantly settle their conflict. Creighton stumbles while walking back and falls to the ground. Peter rushes to help him and bends down to give him a hand. Creighton lodges out one of the pistols stuck to Peter's waistband, and it falls to the ground without him knowing. Creighton later retrieves it to give to his uncle, along with the information about the print shop.
Later that night, Creighton gives the pistol to Gower, which he uses to subdue the two guards in order to escape. Gower instructs Creighton to stay and continue spying on the Americans, but Creighton insists on leaving with his uncle. Frustrated, the Colonel, strikes Creighton in the head with the pistol, dazing him. When Creighton recovers, he finds that his uncle and the other British prisoners have left, and the guards will likely have recognized him. He runs back to Franklin's house and goes to sleep.
Creighton wakes up the next morning, still feeling dazed. Franklin informs him about the fact that the British prisoners have escaped and asks Creighton if he knows anything about it. Creighton confesses to helping them escape, but Franklin decides to keep his confession a secret and tells him to take the next few days off from work.
Peter takes Creighton to a café the next day to introduce him to some other Americans and play some cards. While discussing politics, the men talk about the “Indian Problem,” and how it is only a matter of time before New Orleans is attacked. It is revealed that Carolina, the British supplied the Cherokee Natives with muskets, and told them that the Americans were their enemy. One of the men mentions that they would have been caught off the guard and wiped out, but a British officer came to warn the colonists about the impending attack. It is mentioned that the officer shared the same surname as Creighton – Harry Brown. Creighton realizes that the officer being discussed was his father who was later captured and taken to be hanged in Florida. He becomes disillusioned from the fact that he had always been told his father died gloriously in battle, serving the British - not as (in Creighton's eyes) a hanged traitor.
Several days later, three men dressed in Native American breechcloths come to the print shop and set it on fire. Creighton manages to tackle one of the men to the ground but is forced to let him go in order to help Sophie and Franklin save the printing types. Part of the shop's roof collapses as Franklin enters the building again to retrieve more types and Creighton rushes into the building to try and save him. Franklin is knocked unconscious and Creighton blacks out shortly after. He comes to shortly after and is informed that Peter dragged both him and Franklin out of the burning shop. He also finds that they caught one of the culprits, who is revealed to be British and likely tied to Gower.
Arnold reveals a new plot to Creighton, Peter, and Franklin: he plans to feign defection to the British and feed them false information while spying on them. He and Creighton leave for Pensacola and meet Gower and the other escapees, among other loyalists. The Colonel initially has his doubts about Arnold and accuses him of being a spy. Enraged, Arnold challenges Gower to a duel, which he accepts. Gower attempts to tamper with Arnold's pistol prior to the fight by coating the gun's lock with resin to prevent ignition. However, the latter had brought a spare pistol, which he uses to fire a fatal shot at the Colonel. Creighton rushes to his uncle's side as he lets out his final words, “St. Marks. Number four.”
Arnold and Creighton leave the town and head to St. Marks, which is a British fort. Creighton speculates that George Washington may be held in cell number four, although Arnold doubts that is the case. Creighton gives him a stolen British corporal's uniform that he obtained on the way out of the town, which he dons in order to gain access into the fort's prison. They open cell number four, and find that the prisoner is not Washington, but Creighton's father. It is later revealed that Washington has already been hanged. [2]
The whole book is a historical fiction.
The novel has had a generally positive reception from the public with a 3.49/5 star rating on Goodreads [4] and a 79% approval rate from reviewers on Google Books. [5] Publishers Weekly regarded the novel as "adventerous, if somewhat unrealistic." [6] The most prominent of grievances that readers have with the novel is that the blurb on the back of the book seems to be somewhat misleading. It presents the concept of a world where the American Colonists lost the American Revolution, while the story itself seems to only focus on one character and his journey.
Kim is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning English author Rudyard Kipling. It was first published serially in McClure's Magazine from December 1900 to October 1901 as well as in Cassell's Magazine from January to November 1901, and first published in book form by Macmillan & Co. Ltd in October 1901. The novel is notable for its detailed portrait of the people, culture, and varied religions of India. "The book presents a vivid picture of India, its teeming populations, religions, and superstitions, and the life of the bazaars and the road." The story unfolds against the backdrop of the Great Game, the political conflict between Russia and Britain in Central Asia. The novel popularized the phrase and idea of the Great Game.
Albert Pierrepoint was an English hangman who executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His father Henry and uncle Thomas were official hangmen before him.
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Major John André was a British Army officer who served as the head of Britain's intelligence operations during the American War of Independence. In September 1780, he negotiated with Continental Army officer and turncoat Benedict Arnold, who secretly offered to turn over control of the American fort at West Point, New York to the British. Due to a series of mishaps and unforeseen events, André was forced to return to British lines from a meeting with Arnold through American-controlled territory while wearing civilian clothes.
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The Culper Ring was a network of spies active during the American Revolutionary War, organized by Major Benjamin Tallmadge and General George Washington in 1778 during the British occupation of New York City. The name "Culper" was suggested by George Washington and taken from Culpeper County, Virginia. The leaders of the spy ring were Abraham Woodhull and Robert Townsend, using the aliases of "Samuel Culper Sr." and "Samuel Culper Jr.", respectively; Tallmadge was referred to as "John Bolton".
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The Scarlet Coat is a 1955 American historical drama and swashbuckler in Eastmancolor and CinemaScope released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, produced by Nicholas Nayfack, directed by John Sturges. It stars Cornel Wilde, Michael Wilding, George Sanders, and Anne Francis. The film is based upon the events in the American Revolution in which Benedict Arnold offered to surrender the fort at West Point to the British in exchange for money.
Benjamin Franklin "Grimes" Davis was an American military officer who served in Indian wars, and then led Union cavalry in the American Civil War before dying in combat. He led a daring escape from the Confederate-encircled Union garrison at Harpers Ferry.
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American colonial marines were various naval infantry units which served during the Revolutionary War on the Patriot side. After the conflict broke out in 1775, nine of the rebelling Thirteen Colonies established state navies to carry out naval operations. Accordingly, several marine units were raised to serve as an infantry component aboard the ships of these navies. The marines, along with the navies they served in, were intended initially as a stopgap measure to provide the Patriots with naval capabilities before the Continental Navy reached a significant level of strength. After its establishment, state navies, and the marines serving in them, participated in several operations alongside the Continental Navy and its marines.
The Raid on Lunenburg occurred during the American Revolution when the US privateer, Captain Noah Stoddard of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and four other privateer vessels attacked the British settlement at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia on July 1, 1782. The raid was the last major privateer attack on a Nova Scotia community during the war.
William Goddard was an early American patriot, publisher, printer and postal inspector. Born in New London, Connecticut, Goddard lived through the American Revolution and American Revolutionary War, during which he opposed British rule of the colonies through his actions and publications. He was a major figure in the development of the colonial postal system, which became the U.S. Post Office after the American Revolution.
Assignment in Brittany is a 1943 war film directed by Jack Conway and starring French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont and Swedish actress Signe Hasso, both in their American film debuts, and American actress Susan Peters.
