The Unexpected Life of Oliver Cromwell Pitts

In 1724 in the English seaside town of Melcombe Regis, twelve-year-old Oliver Cromwell Pitts awakens to a fierce storm, a flooded house, and a ship washed ashore. His world is about to be changed forever. When Oliver takes twenty-three shillings from the ship, he knows he has committed a crime that could get him hanged. Though not technically an orphan, he has no one to help him. His mother died soon after he was born, his older sister Charity moved to London; now, just before the storm, his lawyer father has also fled to London, leaving Oliver alone. Imprisoned in the local children's poorhouse, he escapes and takes to the road, where he is forced into becoming a highwayman by a captain of the (real life) criminal mastermind Jonathan Wild, whose network spreads weblike across England. Inexorably leading to London, Oliver's odyssey lands him in Newgate Prison, where he, Charity, and Mr. Pitts are "swallowed by the legal system," awaiting trial. Will they hang, or be thankful to merely be whipped, branded, or transported overseas? This action-packed Oliver Twist-like tale is carefully orchestrated, with short chapters, cliffhangers, lush descriptions, and historical details neatly woven in throughout. Inaugurating a new series, this book stands by itself as an entertaining, old-fashioned, page-turning adventure, though it seems clear where the next installment will lead. A brief author's note offers some background to the novel. dean Schneider