The Night I Freed John Brown

by John Michael Cummings

Book Overview

A haunting adventure, a brilliant new author. Young Josh knows there is something about the tall Victorian House on the Harpers Ferry Hill, the one his father grew up in, that he can t quite put his... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399250549
• ISBN13: 9780399250545
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Philomel Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

A historical mystery and adventure that leaps off the page

Thirteen-year-old Josh feels like he lives his life in the shadows. On one side of his rundown house towers the huge church and on the other side sits the fancy, five-story historical residence. His angry father allows the yard to be overgrown in order to hide their house and family from the thousands of tourists who visit Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, every year to learn about the famous John Brown and his attempts to free the slaves. Josh's dad doesn't like tourists --- or much of anything. Then a new park employee moves into the fancy historical house next door with his three sons. Luke, the youngest, is 13, and he and Josh instantly become friends. Josh feels drawn to the neighbor's place, with their beautiful house and glitzy belongings, and, most especially, to the family itself. Luke's father isn't angry all the time and doesn't yell or push his sons around, and Luke's brothers don't get in trouble with the park rangers for messing with the tourists. They even read Shakespeare, practice for the annual John Brown play, and seem to enjoy spending time together. Even better is that they invite Josh to join them. At the neighbor's house, Josh feels an acceptance, an appreciation for himself that he doesn't experience at home. He can't help but be jealous of their seemingly perfect lives. Back at home, a storm that has been threatening to burst for years is brewing. The family used to go to church and visit Josh's grandparents in their caretaker's home for the Catholic retreat. But now his father wants nothing to do with the church or with the house he grew up in, and no one will tell Josh anything. Then one night, all of the pent-up angry feelings explode, and someone gets hurt. Things aren't as they seem, and Josh is ready for some answers. John Michael Cummings has had over 75 short stories published in various magazines, but this is his first novel --- and it's amazing. Cummings has a special talent for description, painting vividly clear pictures with his animated words ("Step after creaky step we went up, with Jerry in the lead, the darkness over us like a low ceiling we were always about to bump our heads into."). He brings to life a story where things are not always as they seem, with burning emotions begging to be freed and lonely souls desperate for healing. THE NIGHT I FREED JOHN BROWN is a historically rich story with colorful characters and a family secret that will draw readers in and keep the pages turning. --- Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman, author of FINDING MY LIGHT and THE BLACK POND

Hope there will be a sequel novel

"The Night I Freed John Brown" is a wonderfully written book by John Cummings. The storyline just seems to flow along just like the river that flows by Harpers Ferry. The storyline grabs your attention and you want to hurry up to finish it to see how the story ends. This is an excellent fast read for our young readers. I hope Mr. Cummings will do a sequel to his debut novel!

A rip-roaring good story, and surprisingly insightful

Though this book is nominally for "young adults," it's a rip-roaring good story that will appeal to almost anyone who was ever a boy or had a father. The central character is Josh, a 13-year-old boy growing up in a poor family in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Both literally and figuratively, Josh and his family live in the shadow of the church next door, of their more affluent neighbors, and of the legendary John Brown, the 19th-century abolitionist whose statue glares at their house from across the street. For an adult reader such as myself, the book awakens long-sleeping memories of the world as seen in childhood: small and intimate, yet imbued with cosmic portent and urgency. Cummings's greatest achievement as a writer is to re-inhabit this world and take his readers along with him. He tells the story from Josh's point of view, with never a false note, never an adult voice intruding into the narrative, never a sly wink at the reader. The truth and sincerity of the writing are joined by its remarkable insight into the relationship between boys and their fathers. The mystery of John Brown, of the abandoned house, of the search for "cowmint" - all those are mere surrogates for the real mystery Josh must solve. It's a mystery that every boy must confront as he grows up: the mystery of his own father. First made an object of uncritical hero-worship, then seen as a foolish bully, and at last accepted as a fully-realized human being with virtues, flaws, courage, and fears, Josh's father - like the reader's - is finally understood. Kids will love it because it tells a true and exciting story that's really about *them*. Adults will love it for different reasons, as a time-warp trip back into their own past.

Exciting new novel for young readers

"The Night I Freed John Brown" provokes feelings and stimulates the intellect to dig deeper to discover what is real and what has come from the inspired mind of the author. John Michael Cummings' debut novel is alive with history and filled with the adventuresome spirit and imagination of an adolescent boy. Thirteen year old Josh Connors is ashamed of his rundown house, his shabby clothes, his family and especially his bully of a father. You feel the shame and throughout the book you search for that one person who will save Josh from his tortured life. By the end of the story, Josh discovers a certain strength and greatness in the very people he's judged inferior, including himself. I recommend this exciting new novel for young readers.

A wonderful, vibrantly written novel!

This wonderfully written story is centered on the life of a 13-year-old boy growing up in Harpers Ferry, a tourist town famous for the abolitionist John Brown's raid in 1859. Young Josh Connors is haunted by the violent image of John Brown--it reminds him of his own angry, controlling father. And Josh cannot escape John Brown, since he lives directly across the street from the John Brown Wax Museum, where a large, frightening-looking wax tableaux of the crusader stands. With the arrival of new neighbors, the Richmonds, Josh's sheltered and constrained life takes an unexpected turn. The Richmonds are completely different from his own provincial family; they are fun and open-minded, with a passion for history and theater. When Josh shares with them his belief in cowmint, a mythical plant that his father made up and what has become over the years a lost family symbol of faith in the impossible, he is adopted into a new and exciting world. Doubling the magic of his new friendship with this Shakespeare-loving family is that their house next door is a haunting duplicate of his father's childhood house, a "farmer's Victorian" that stands deserted upriver from town--deserted but strangely intact, awaiting some sort of reckoning. In a charming mystery that takes us from the historic town, to a play about John Brown, and finally to where it all began for Josh's father--the abandoned family home upriver--THE NIGHT I FREED JOHN BROWN is a story of lost faith regained. There are unlikely heroes, including a small mint plant that, like faith, just won't die. This is simply a wonderful, vibrantly written novel. I wholeheartedly recommend it!