Kirkus Reviews

A wastrel-in-training finds cause, and a Cause, to mend his ways in this alternate history from the author of Shakespeare's Scribe (2000). The American revolt has collapsed with the capture of George Washington, but there's still unrest in the colonies. Creighton Brown, spoiled son of a British officer supposedly killed in the war, has been involuntarily dispatched there in hopes that his ruthless uncle, Hugh Gower, colonel in charge of the Charles Town garrison, can shape him up. Captured by pirates led by dashing hothead Benedict Arnold, Creighton meets Ben Franklin and other exiles living in Spanish-held New Orleans, and finds himself playing both sides, forced to spy for Gower while becoming embroiled in a rebel plan to find and free Washington. Losing his arrogance and preconceptions with realistic reluctance, Creighton survives several narrow scrapes on the way to rescuing his father, who turns out to have actually been imprisoned for warning settlers of an impending massacre. As well, he ends up taking to heart Franklin's observation that there is no such thing as a good war, or a bad peace. Disappointingly, Washington never does turn up, but readers will be swept along by this what if? adventure, and will find Franklin's philosophy as applicable today as ever. (afterword) (Fiction. 11-13)

Horn Book

This novel examines what might have happened if Great Britain had defeated the colonies in the Revolutionary War. Fifteen-year-old Creighton arrives from England and soon begins working with an underground group of patriots, including Benjamin Franklin and Benedict Arnold. The compelling novel offers a thought-provoking perspective on a past that could have been.

ALA Booklist

Blackwood, the author of The Shakespeare Stealer (1998) and Wild Timothy (1987), creates a novel of alternate history set in 1777, after British forces have trounced the Continental Army and captured General Washington. Fifteen-year-old Creighton, wastrel son of a once-wealthy English family, finds himself bundled off to America for the good of his character. When his uncle's ship is attacked by a remnant of the American forces led by their stalwart general Benedict Arnold, Creighton is taken to New Orleans. There he befriends Benjamin Franklin and others still plotting against the British. Well imagined and well plotted, the story turns on questions of honor and of loyalty to one's country, one's family, and oneself. Readers will occasionally find themselves doing a mental doubletake when discovering some new non-historical fact, but having the cage of preconceived notions rattled is a pleasure of alternate history novels, of which perhaps the best children's literature example is Joan Aiken's Dido Twite series. In the appended author's note, Blackwood separates fact from fiction and points interested readers to a Web site on uchronica, or alternate history.

School Library Journal

Gr 8-10-The author of The Shakespeare Stealer (Puffin, 2000) guides readers through a might-have-been America in this suspenseful alternative history set during the Revolutionary War. In Blackwood's imagined 1777, the upstart colonists have been routed by superior British forces. George Washington awaits execution and the rebel leaders who have escaped capture are in hiding or have fled. Dashing Benedict Arnold has become a privateer operating out of French-controlled New Orleans, where Benjamin Franklin runs a printing shop and distributes an illegal newspaper, The Liberty Tree. Enter 17-year-old Creighton Brown, an upper-class English wastrel who arrives in Louisiana as Arnold's captive, after an earlier abduction from London that had been arranged by his mother. Lodged with Franklin, Creighton becomes a reluctant publishing assistant, and, as he begins to admire the Americans and their principles, an even more reluctant British spy. Creighton's lazy, spoiled ways undergo a revolution of their own when he is caught between dangerous plots and counterplots and is forced to take risks that threaten more than one life. Packed with action, convincing historical speculation, and compelling portrayals of real-life and fictional characters, this page-turner will appeal to fans of both history and fantasy.-Starr E. Smith, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

This story imagines what would have happened if the Americans had lost the Revolutionary War, and focuses on a boy who agrees to spy on Benjamin Franklin. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">PW said, "History buffs will recognize some clever dialogue and the hero struggles with compelling questions, such as the meaning of honor and the value of war." Ages 12-up.<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC""> (Feb.)