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The American Boy
Interweaving real and fictional elements, The American Boy is a major new literary historical crime novel in the tradition of An Instance of the Fingerpost and Possession.
England 1819: Thomas Shield, a new master at a school just outside London, is tutor to a young American boy and the boy's sensitive best friend, Charles Frant. Drawn to Frant's beautiful, unhappy mother, Thomas becomes caught up in her family's twisted intrigues. Then a brutal crime is committed, with consequences that threaten to destroy Thomas and all that he has come to hold dear. Despite his efforts, Shield is caught up in a deadly tangle of sex, money, murder and lies -- a tangle that grips him tighter even as he tries to escape from it. And what of the strange American child, at the heart of these macabre events, yet mysterious -- what is the secret of the boy named Edgar Allen Poe?
England 1819: Thomas Shield, a new master at a school just outside London, is tutor to a young American boy and the boy's sensitive best friend, Charles Frant. Drawn to Frant's beautiful, unhappy mother, Thomas becomes caught up in her family's twisted intrigues. Then a brutal crime is committed, with consequences that threaten to destroy Thomas and all that he has come to hold dear. Despite his efforts, Shield is caught up in a deadly tangle of sex, money, murder and lies -- a tangle that grips him tighter even as he tries to escape from it. And what of the strange American child, at the heart of these macabre events, yet mysterious -- what is the secret of the boy named Edgar Allen Poe?
485 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2003
144 people are currently reading
2835 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Taylor
61 books724 followersAndrew Taylor (b. 1951) is a British author of mysteries. Born in East Anglia, he attended university at Cambridge before getting an MA in library sciences from University College London. His first novel, Caroline Miniscule (1982), a modern-day treasure hunt starring history student William Dougal, began an eight-book series and won Taylor wide critical acclaim. He has written several other thriller series, most notably the eight Lydmouthbooks, which begin with An Air That Kills (1994).
His other novels include The Office of the Dead (2000) and The American Boy (2003), both of which won the Crime Writers’ Association of Britain’s Ellis Peters Historical Dagger award, making Taylor the only author to receive the prize twice. His Roth trilogy, which has been published in omnibus form as Requiem for an Angel (2002), was adapted by the UK’s ITV for its television show Fallen Angel. Taylor’s most recent novel is the historical thriller The Scent of Death (2013).
His other novels include The Office of the Dead (2000) and The American Boy (2003), both of which won the Crime Writers’ Association of Britain’s Ellis Peters Historical Dagger award, making Taylor the only author to receive the prize twice. His Roth trilogy, which has been published in omnibus form as Requiem for an Angel (2002), was adapted by the UK’s ITV for its television show Fallen Angel. Taylor’s most recent novel is the historical thriller The Scent of Death (2013).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 309 reviews
March 14, 2022
I was surprised that I ended up enjoying "The American boy" as much as I did. Have had in my mind that I didn't gel well with Andrew Taylor's writing but once again I was proven wrong. Seems to be a theme
August 5, 2017
I loved this book.
I've read many of the reviews, and while I agree with some of the criticisms (more on that later) I was so thoroughly caught up in this murder mystery set in the pre-Dickensian era that I have to put it on my list of favorites. The atmosphere, the details, the environment was richly rendered, the characters were fully fleshed and three-dimensional, and the mystery was intriguing, properly grisly, intricate and always compelling.
It is about a schoolteacher named Thomas Shield who gets caught up in the private lives of two of his students, one of whom is the young Edgar Allan Poe. Neither one of the boys plays a huge personal role in the drama (Taylor has been criticized for calling his book "the American boy" when it is not actually about Poe per se) but their extended families are front and center, enmeshed in a web of greed, love, and lust for power. Thomas finds himself a pawn in the hands of powerful people and has to fight to resolve the mystery in order to save himself from doom.
Some people have said that Thomas Shield is not a wholly sympathetic character (I've noticed before this that Andrew Taylor tends to portray his male characters warts and all) but he's certainly sympathetic enough, and working my way through the mystery in his intelligent and perceptive hands felt very comfortable for me. Maybe he's not the most emotive of men, but I could imagine myself spending a very enjoyable afternoon talking with him, and what more can you want from a narrator?
Another complaint is be that the book is too slow and psychological in places. For instance, when they first go to the country there is a long section where relationships are being worked out almost in the manner of Jane Austen. Conversations are had, discoveries are made, links are forged day by day, and some readers found this tiring. I personally loved it, because I knew it was all working toward the setting up of whatever terrible thing was to come, and I found the character development fascinating in itself.
So I give it an enthusiastic thumbs-up. And for those who like to really experience the feel of a different time and place, I say this was one of the best. The atmosphere of both London and the country was so well rendered that I felt I was experiencing firsthand the stink of the factories, the bustle and clang of the street traffic, the gray miasma of coal-infused fog, the frigidity of the "great estate" parlors, the jouncing of carriages over hard country ruts. When I finished I really felt I had come back from a journey to the past.
I've read many of the reviews, and while I agree with some of the criticisms (more on that later) I was so thoroughly caught up in this murder mystery set in the pre-Dickensian era that I have to put it on my list of favorites. The atmosphere, the details, the environment was richly rendered, the characters were fully fleshed and three-dimensional, and the mystery was intriguing, properly grisly, intricate and always compelling.
It is about a schoolteacher named Thomas Shield who gets caught up in the private lives of two of his students, one of whom is the young Edgar Allan Poe. Neither one of the boys plays a huge personal role in the drama (Taylor has been criticized for calling his book "the American boy" when it is not actually about Poe per se) but their extended families are front and center, enmeshed in a web of greed, love, and lust for power. Thomas finds himself a pawn in the hands of powerful people and has to fight to resolve the mystery in order to save himself from doom.
Some people have said that Thomas Shield is not a wholly sympathetic character (I've noticed before this that Andrew Taylor tends to portray his male characters warts and all) but he's certainly sympathetic enough, and working my way through the mystery in his intelligent and perceptive hands felt very comfortable for me. Maybe he's not the most emotive of men, but I could imagine myself spending a very enjoyable afternoon talking with him, and what more can you want from a narrator?
Another complaint is be that the book is too slow and psychological in places. For instance, when they first go to the country there is a long section where relationships are being worked out almost in the manner of Jane Austen. Conversations are had, discoveries are made, links are forged day by day, and some readers found this tiring. I personally loved it, because I knew it was all working toward the setting up of whatever terrible thing was to come, and I found the character development fascinating in itself.
So I give it an enthusiastic thumbs-up. And for those who like to really experience the feel of a different time and place, I say this was one of the best. The atmosphere of both London and the country was so well rendered that I felt I was experiencing firsthand the stink of the factories, the bustle and clang of the street traffic, the gray miasma of coal-infused fog, the frigidity of the "great estate" parlors, the jouncing of carriages over hard country ruts. When I finished I really felt I had come back from a journey to the past.
October 11, 2023
Second read:
I guess this is my Andrew Taylor year. Maybe next year will be too! Thankfully he is pretty prolific and still writing.
If you enjoy creepy, atmospheric British crime, I encourage you to try Andrew Taylor. He’s written quite a few books, I believe they are all historical fiction, in many different time periods, and he is good at it. Many of his books feel to me like modern classics. They are never anachronistic, at least not in my experience. Total immersion.
This audiobook is narrated by Simon Vance, who is one of the best.
Highly recommended in both print and audio formats!
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First read:
This is a great book. Andrew Taylor really should be more popular. Maybe the fact that he isn't as popular is a compliment? At any rate, plot and characterization were both fantastic here. I was sucked in very quickly, and it definitely has the feel of a 19th century work of fiction, even though it is a modern work.
This man is just a great talent and he continues to impress me. The books I've read of his have a completely different feel, but the writing is undeniably Taylor. Do yourself a favor and pick up one of his books!
I guess this is my Andrew Taylor year. Maybe next year will be too! Thankfully he is pretty prolific and still writing.
If you enjoy creepy, atmospheric British crime, I encourage you to try Andrew Taylor. He’s written quite a few books, I believe they are all historical fiction, in many different time periods, and he is good at it. Many of his books feel to me like modern classics. They are never anachronistic, at least not in my experience. Total immersion.
This audiobook is narrated by Simon Vance, who is one of the best.
Highly recommended in both print and audio formats!
<><><><><>
First read:
This is a great book. Andrew Taylor really should be more popular. Maybe the fact that he isn't as popular is a compliment? At any rate, plot and characterization were both fantastic here. I was sucked in very quickly, and it definitely has the feel of a 19th century work of fiction, even though it is a modern work.
This man is just a great talent and he continues to impress me. The books I've read of his have a completely different feel, but the writing is undeniably Taylor. Do yourself a favor and pick up one of his books!
December 6, 2022
A mixed genre book. Historical/ gothic / murder mystery / thriller. The use of language was very impressive, in that it felt like it had been written back in the day, but was not gimmicky or obviously contrived.
An unusual novel, skillfully executed. Historical elements are woven into the narrative to add depth and resonance.
Five dark stars.
An unusual novel, skillfully executed. Historical elements are woven into the narrative to add depth and resonance.
Five dark stars.
August 28, 2023
Essentially DNF'd at about page 185. The "unpardonable crime" of this novel is that it's almost 500 pages long, and you don't even get to anything resembling a mystery till sometime after page 100. If this book was meant to be historical fiction and was taking 100 pages or more to get to any real themes, that would be one thing, but for a mystery novel, hmm...
I see others have very much enjoyed the book, and I might have also, as the story certainly looked like it had a lot of potential. But ultimately, I would say this book had a severe "failure-to-launch" within a reasonable window of time. Moving on.
I see others have very much enjoyed the book, and I might have also, as the story certainly looked like it had a lot of potential. But ultimately, I would say this book had a severe "failure-to-launch" within a reasonable window of time. Moving on.
July 29, 2013
Meh. I found the first half intriguing enough, but the second half bored me. I found it hard to stay connected to the plot and the characters. The more intricate the plot got, the less interested I became. I was tempted to abandon this book, but I'd already invested so much time in it. I don't know why I do this to myself, but I forced myself to finish it.
The only reason I gave it three stars instead of two was because historical fiction requires a considerable degree of competence on the part of the writer, and I felt that he had earned it. That said, I won't be looking for anything else written by Andrew Taylor.
The only reason I gave it three stars instead of two was because historical fiction requires a considerable degree of competence on the part of the writer, and I felt that he had earned it. That said, I won't be looking for anything else written by Andrew Taylor.
December 12, 2012
I did not like this book.
This is the second book (Fingersmith being the first) in our reading list which appears to have got at least half its ideas from Wilkie Collins. Perhaps if I had never heard of, or never read, Wilkie Collins, I would have enjoyed this book, but since I have heard of him, and The Woman in White, and the Moonstone are favourites of mine, and since The American Boy is (in my opinion) so inferior to either one of these, I found the book irritating in the extreme.
"An enthralling read from start to finish," promises the Times, according to the front cover. I remained unenthralled. In fact, the major entertainment value of the book for me was spotting Wilkiecollinsisms, and shaking my head over what had been done to them. Compare and contrast:
(The Woman in White)
Walter Hartright (music teacher) comes into a house where there are two women, Marion Halcombe and Laura Fairlie. He admires Marion for her intelligence, but loves Laura Fairlie unconditionally.
(The American Boy)
Tom Shield (tutor) comes into a house where there are two women, Flora Carswall and Sophia Frant. He lusts after them both. He enjoys a sex-show staged by the manipulative Flora, and appears to have a bonk with Sophie while everyone else is out.
Sordid.
(The Woman in White)
Count Fosco, the arch-villain is a fascinating and complex character. Evil, yet charming. A grand fraudster, yet somehow honest in his depravity.
(The American Boy)
Stephen Carswell is just vile.
Sordid.
I found it all rather sordid. It did not seem to me that all the flogging of boys at the beginning, nor the whipping of the mute girl were necessary to the story at all, so I found them merely prurient. The abuse of Flora added very little, might she not simply have been a chip off the old block? The affair of Frant/Mrs Johnson, Mrs Johnson being dressed in men's clothing? Why did Harmwell have to be black, unless it was just an excuse for the frequent use of the word "nigger"? What were all these convolutions of the plot for? The plot was so overloaded, I could barely follow the threads. By the time Shield met Harmwell for the second time, I'd forgotten there was a first time, and as for the Ayez-peur parrot, I neither knew nor cared where that had come into the story previously. I longed for the simple and pure motive for the crime of The Woman in White – money!
I thought the characterisation was very weak. I couldn't credit Flora and Sophie falling for Shield because he was so colourless, so passive. There weren't really any characters who rang very true to me and some of them, such as the honest lawyer, Rowsell, were mere caricatures.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I reached the end of this book and then found I had to waffle through more pages, telling us what a big influence Noddy was (pretentious crap!), what the author had for breakfast and his inside leg measurement. It was slightly interesting that the author had to keep looking in a dictionary to see whether certain words and phrases fitted the time period. I actually did the same when Flora said "Tell it to the Marines", and found out the expression was first used in the 1600s.
The most interesting part of the book was the epilogue at the end, which told us something about the mystery surrounding the death of Edgar Allan Poe. I am interested in finding out more about this, but so far as this book was concerned, despite being like the pintle of a hinge, and the still point around which the whole business revolved, the American Boy was just part of the scenery.
I didn't think this book succeeded either as credible historical fiction or as a murder mystery, and I didn't much enjoy reading it, but that is not to say that I think Taylor is a bad writer. On the contrary, I saw much evidence that he is a good writer, so it is sad to see him wasting his talent trying to emulate what was done better a century and a half ago. I gather his next book is about the future, so maybe then we will hear his own voice.
This is the second book (Fingersmith being the first) in our reading list which appears to have got at least half its ideas from Wilkie Collins. Perhaps if I had never heard of, or never read, Wilkie Collins, I would have enjoyed this book, but since I have heard of him, and The Woman in White, and the Moonstone are favourites of mine, and since The American Boy is (in my opinion) so inferior to either one of these, I found the book irritating in the extreme.
"An enthralling read from start to finish," promises the Times, according to the front cover. I remained unenthralled. In fact, the major entertainment value of the book for me was spotting Wilkiecollinsisms, and shaking my head over what had been done to them. Compare and contrast:
(The Woman in White)
Walter Hartright (music teacher) comes into a house where there are two women, Marion Halcombe and Laura Fairlie. He admires Marion for her intelligence, but loves Laura Fairlie unconditionally.
(The American Boy)
Tom Shield (tutor) comes into a house where there are two women, Flora Carswall and Sophia Frant. He lusts after them both. He enjoys a sex-show staged by the manipulative Flora, and appears to have a bonk with Sophie while everyone else is out.
Sordid.
(The Woman in White)
Count Fosco, the arch-villain is a fascinating and complex character. Evil, yet charming. A grand fraudster, yet somehow honest in his depravity.
(The American Boy)
Stephen Carswell is just vile.
Sordid.
I found it all rather sordid. It did not seem to me that all the flogging of boys at the beginning, nor the whipping of the mute girl were necessary to the story at all, so I found them merely prurient. The abuse of Flora added very little, might she not simply have been a chip off the old block? The affair of Frant/Mrs Johnson, Mrs Johnson being dressed in men's clothing? Why did Harmwell have to be black, unless it was just an excuse for the frequent use of the word "nigger"? What were all these convolutions of the plot for? The plot was so overloaded, I could barely follow the threads. By the time Shield met Harmwell for the second time, I'd forgotten there was a first time, and as for the Ayez-peur parrot, I neither knew nor cared where that had come into the story previously. I longed for the simple and pure motive for the crime of The Woman in White – money!
I thought the characterisation was very weak. I couldn't credit Flora and Sophie falling for Shield because he was so colourless, so passive. There weren't really any characters who rang very true to me and some of them, such as the honest lawyer, Rowsell, were mere caricatures.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I reached the end of this book and then found I had to waffle through more pages, telling us what a big influence Noddy was (pretentious crap!), what the author had for breakfast and his inside leg measurement. It was slightly interesting that the author had to keep looking in a dictionary to see whether certain words and phrases fitted the time period. I actually did the same when Flora said "Tell it to the Marines", and found out the expression was first used in the 1600s.
The most interesting part of the book was the epilogue at the end, which told us something about the mystery surrounding the death of Edgar Allan Poe. I am interested in finding out more about this, but so far as this book was concerned, despite being like the pintle of a hinge, and the still point around which the whole business revolved, the American Boy was just part of the scenery.
I didn't think this book succeeded either as credible historical fiction or as a murder mystery, and I didn't much enjoy reading it, but that is not to say that I think Taylor is a bad writer. On the contrary, I saw much evidence that he is a good writer, so it is sad to see him wasting his talent trying to emulate what was done better a century and a half ago. I gather his next book is about the future, so maybe then we will hear his own voice.
March 14, 2022
This felt like a Dickensian book, although much of it is set in the Regency era, with some crossover into the period when George III was incapacitated and then died, and the Prince Regent became George IV. The American boy of the title refers to one Edgar Allan, an adopted son, who is better known to us as Edgar Allan Poe. He stays off-stage for much of the book, but it is interesting to read of his time as a child in England, something which very likely impacted his view of the world and his approach to literature, alone among his contemporaries. The book has a wide canvas, and addresses many of the social ills of its setting. The book feels rigorously researched, but this gives it an immediacy of place and social mores, and illuminates much of complicated social interactions. I very much enjoyed the historical authenticity as well as the on-going machinations which lead to murder and mayhem. This is my first book by this prolific award-winning author, and I look forward to reading others set in different eras. Very highly recommended.
December 31, 2020
This is a weirdly slow-motion mystery in which main character stumbles across clues for months and accidentally accumulates evidence, but then nothing is revealed until the end. It also tangentially involves a young Edgar Allan Poe as a very minor character, who oddly gets top billing. The writing is compelling, in that it keeps you turning the pages, and period details from Regency England are really great. However, the story itself is kind of snoozy, the whole thing requires too much explanation at the end, and the Poe connection seems really forced. Good but not great.
August 9, 2021
an exquisite and beautifully written book.
highly recommended
highly recommended
July 26, 2021
A very period piece set in 1800's England, this tells the story of Thomas Shield, veteran of the Napoleonic Wars turned school teacher. The class system is very much against a man with no wealth or fine family, and Shield ends up in a boarding school, teaching the children of the rich. It's not a bad position for a man of his standing, but things keep changing.
Shield gets drawn into a conspiracy of the very rich, dealing with embezzlement, collapsing banks, murder, assumed identities, and even a few Americans. As he begins to penetrate the haze around an ugly murder, Shield is assaulted, threatened, framed, and suffers horribly from the utterly unfair advantages the upper class have (sounds familiar somehow).
Will he uncover what really happened to a missing banker? Will he find a way to win the heart of a lady far above his station? It's a well done story with a complicated plot. The reader was very good on this one, too.
Shield gets drawn into a conspiracy of the very rich, dealing with embezzlement, collapsing banks, murder, assumed identities, and even a few Americans. As he begins to penetrate the haze around an ugly murder, Shield is assaulted, threatened, framed, and suffers horribly from the utterly unfair advantages the upper class have (sounds familiar somehow).
Will he uncover what really happened to a missing banker? Will he find a way to win the heart of a lady far above his station? It's a well done story with a complicated plot. The reader was very good on this one, too.
September 20, 2019
I read this book ten years ago or so. I didn't realize this until I was about 100 pages in. I can't bear to finish it a second time. There isn't anything wrong with, it's very atmospheric. I just prefer to read new material at the moment.
September 23, 2024
I loved this book! It was so well written, the characters very well observed, and a good plot with twists. I felt the period and locations were really well captured. The writing felt contemporaneous with the period in time, which was something I also admired about the book. It was a great read and ticked all my boxes. I was quite sad to finish the book and will definitely search out others by the same author. 9/10.
February 10, 2019
I love a good backstory, where an author takes a famous novel or character and tells the before or after. George McDonald Fraser does this brilliantly with his Flashman novels, or Jean Rhys with her Wide Sargasso Sea. Here, Taylor does a wonderful job recreating the language, the pace and style of late-Georgian England in this twisty mystery that involves Edgar Allan Poe's ne'er do well father.
March 18, 2018
Over dit boek van Andrew Taylor moet ik eigenlijk geen recensie schrijven maar een heel essay. Dat voert echter een beetje ver voor deze rubriek maar jullie houden het te goed. Een onvergeeflijke misdaad is - gedeeltelijk - een verhaal over de jaren dat Edgar Allen Poe in Engeland woonde. Hij is in dit verhaal 'de Amerikaanse jongen' die liefdevol door de familie Allen wordt opgenomen. Hij raakt bevriend met Charlie Frant, en samen worden ze aangenomen als leerling op de school waar de hoofdpersoon, Thomas Shield, leraar is. Het verhaal speelt zich grotendeels af in 1819 maar het laat nog sporen na tot ver in die eeuw.
Tom Shield heeft gevochten bij Waterloo (Slag bij Waterloo, 18 juni 1815) maar hij is daar, zoals we nu zouden zeggen, uitgekomen met een 'post traumatic stress disorder'. Een oude tante neemt hem onder haar hoede, en als hij enige jaren later weer min of meer de oude is, en zijn tantes gezondheid steeds slechter wordt, zal hij toch een baan moeten vinden. Mr Bransby geeft hem de kans om leraar te worden. Al snel raakt Shield echter betrokken bij de lotgevallen van de familie van Charles Frant, en vooral bij het lot van zijn vader en later van zijn beeldschone moeder.
Dit boek kreeg zeer verdiend in 2003 de CWA Historical Dagger for Fiction. Andrew Taylor schreef met dit boek een moderne thriller, die zich toevallig bijna tweehonderd jaar geleden afspeelt. Nou ben ik toevallig een groot liefhebber van Engelse auteurs uit die periode, zoals daar zijn Charles Dickens en Wilkie Collins. Ik heb veel van hen gelezen. Het boek The Woman in White van Collins wordt wel eens de eerste echte detectiveroman genoemd. Als je toevallig ook van deze schrijvers houdt, zul je een enorm plezier beleven aan het boek van Taylor. Wat ik buitengewoon knap vind, is dat Taylor kans heeft gezien dit spannende verhaal neer te zetten met behoud van alle originele details die je ook in de boeken van voornoemde schrijvers vindt, maar met weglating van de soms lange - en ik moet toegeven: soms saaie - stukken die nu eenmaal eigen zijn aan een boek uit die tijd.
Een onvergeeflijke misdaad is een boek dat mijns inziens het beste uit twee werelden biedt. Het verhaal is geschreven vanuit de hoofdpersoon, Tom Shield, die heel veel dingen meemaakt en ze daarom, zo zegt hij zelf, op een dag maar eens opschrijft. Waarom, dat weet hij eigenlijk zelf niet. Shield is een tamelijk goed onderlegd man maar ook een jonge man, met alle gevoelens en onzekerheden die daarbij horen. Dat komt prachtig tot uiting in de manier waarop hij zijn gevoelens voor Flora en Sophie beschrijft. Sophie is de moeder van Charlie Frant en Flora is haar nichtje, dat op nogal eigenaardige wijze in het bezit komt van een landgoed dat eigenlijk rechtens aan Sophie toebehoort. Aangezien Tom Shield hiervoor een handtekening heeft moeten zetten, is dit eigenlijk het begin van het intrigerende verhaal.
Dit boek heeft een heleboel extra's: een uitgebreid verhaal over Andrew Taylor en hoe het boek tot stand gekomen is, informatie over Edgar Allen Poe en nog veel meer. Andrew Taylor heeft al twintig boeken geschreven en ik heb hem toegevoegd aan mijn lijstje: 'auteurs van wie ik alles wil hebben'.
Tom Shield heeft gevochten bij Waterloo (Slag bij Waterloo, 18 juni 1815) maar hij is daar, zoals we nu zouden zeggen, uitgekomen met een 'post traumatic stress disorder'. Een oude tante neemt hem onder haar hoede, en als hij enige jaren later weer min of meer de oude is, en zijn tantes gezondheid steeds slechter wordt, zal hij toch een baan moeten vinden. Mr Bransby geeft hem de kans om leraar te worden. Al snel raakt Shield echter betrokken bij de lotgevallen van de familie van Charles Frant, en vooral bij het lot van zijn vader en later van zijn beeldschone moeder.
Dit boek kreeg zeer verdiend in 2003 de CWA Historical Dagger for Fiction. Andrew Taylor schreef met dit boek een moderne thriller, die zich toevallig bijna tweehonderd jaar geleden afspeelt. Nou ben ik toevallig een groot liefhebber van Engelse auteurs uit die periode, zoals daar zijn Charles Dickens en Wilkie Collins. Ik heb veel van hen gelezen. Het boek The Woman in White van Collins wordt wel eens de eerste echte detectiveroman genoemd. Als je toevallig ook van deze schrijvers houdt, zul je een enorm plezier beleven aan het boek van Taylor. Wat ik buitengewoon knap vind, is dat Taylor kans heeft gezien dit spannende verhaal neer te zetten met behoud van alle originele details die je ook in de boeken van voornoemde schrijvers vindt, maar met weglating van de soms lange - en ik moet toegeven: soms saaie - stukken die nu eenmaal eigen zijn aan een boek uit die tijd.
Een onvergeeflijke misdaad is een boek dat mijns inziens het beste uit twee werelden biedt. Het verhaal is geschreven vanuit de hoofdpersoon, Tom Shield, die heel veel dingen meemaakt en ze daarom, zo zegt hij zelf, op een dag maar eens opschrijft. Waarom, dat weet hij eigenlijk zelf niet. Shield is een tamelijk goed onderlegd man maar ook een jonge man, met alle gevoelens en onzekerheden die daarbij horen. Dat komt prachtig tot uiting in de manier waarop hij zijn gevoelens voor Flora en Sophie beschrijft. Sophie is de moeder van Charlie Frant en Flora is haar nichtje, dat op nogal eigenaardige wijze in het bezit komt van een landgoed dat eigenlijk rechtens aan Sophie toebehoort. Aangezien Tom Shield hiervoor een handtekening heeft moeten zetten, is dit eigenlijk het begin van het intrigerende verhaal.
Dit boek heeft een heleboel extra's: een uitgebreid verhaal over Andrew Taylor en hoe het boek tot stand gekomen is, informatie over Edgar Allen Poe en nog veel meer. Andrew Taylor heeft al twintig boeken geschreven en ik heb hem toegevoegd aan mijn lijstje: 'auteurs van wie ik alles wil hebben'.
July 19, 2011
‘Sometimes it is easier to punish the wicked than to defend the innocent.’
The novel opens in England in 1819 where Thomas Shield (our narrator) takes a position as a junior usher at a school near London. Shield is fortunate to obtain the position - he was unable to complete his studies at Cambridge after his father died, he has no reference from his last position, and his brief military career was disastrous.
So, how does such a man become caught up in events which include a bank collapse and a murder? How does he become involved in the affairs of the families concerned with the fortunes and misfortunes of Wavenhoe’s Bank? And what is the significance of the men from America, and who is Edgar Allan?
There are two boys at Shields’s school who are central to the events that unfold: Charles Frant and Edgar Allan. Edgar Allan and his foster parents have moved to England from America. Charles Frant’s father, Henry, is a partner of Wavenhoe’s Bank. Charles and Edgar become friends, and on a number of occasions Thomas Shield is sent to accompany the boys between home and school. As a consequence, Thomas Shield sees something of the world in which they live and becomes caught up in the series of events that occur after the Bank collapses.
This is not a fast moving mystery but its multiple layers kept me engaged. Poor Thomas Shields: he is drawn to both Sophia Frant, Charles’s mother, and her cousin Flora Carswall. There are family mysteries to puzzle over, strangers to identify and strange happenings to make sense of. While Edgar Allan (Poe) is not really central to the story, he is on the edge of mysteries and he represents a number of the links between new world and the old which are an integral part of the unfolding story. The settings are enhanced by the physical descriptions, especially the fogs in London and the winter landscapes of rural Gloucestershire.
I enjoyed this novel – in many ways Thomas Shields was the perfect narrator. His class enabled him to be both observer and participant. The ending was a little too neat for me, but still entirely fitting.
Note: this book has been published as both ‘An Unpardonable Crime’ and ‘The American Boy’.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
The novel opens in England in 1819 where Thomas Shield (our narrator) takes a position as a junior usher at a school near London. Shield is fortunate to obtain the position - he was unable to complete his studies at Cambridge after his father died, he has no reference from his last position, and his brief military career was disastrous.
So, how does such a man become caught up in events which include a bank collapse and a murder? How does he become involved in the affairs of the families concerned with the fortunes and misfortunes of Wavenhoe’s Bank? And what is the significance of the men from America, and who is Edgar Allan?
There are two boys at Shields’s school who are central to the events that unfold: Charles Frant and Edgar Allan. Edgar Allan and his foster parents have moved to England from America. Charles Frant’s father, Henry, is a partner of Wavenhoe’s Bank. Charles and Edgar become friends, and on a number of occasions Thomas Shield is sent to accompany the boys between home and school. As a consequence, Thomas Shield sees something of the world in which they live and becomes caught up in the series of events that occur after the Bank collapses.
This is not a fast moving mystery but its multiple layers kept me engaged. Poor Thomas Shields: he is drawn to both Sophia Frant, Charles’s mother, and her cousin Flora Carswall. There are family mysteries to puzzle over, strangers to identify and strange happenings to make sense of. While Edgar Allan (Poe) is not really central to the story, he is on the edge of mysteries and he represents a number of the links between new world and the old which are an integral part of the unfolding story. The settings are enhanced by the physical descriptions, especially the fogs in London and the winter landscapes of rural Gloucestershire.
I enjoyed this novel – in many ways Thomas Shields was the perfect narrator. His class enabled him to be both observer and participant. The ending was a little too neat for me, but still entirely fitting.
Note: this book has been published as both ‘An Unpardonable Crime’ and ‘The American Boy’.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
February 7, 2020
I found this a most disappointing book. The writer can produce decent prose, and he conjures up a convincing atmosphere of pre-Dickensian London. But the structure of the novel is so lop-sided as to ruin any impact the story might have. The first half is slow to the point of tedium, with too much description - just a touch is all that is necessary to give the reader a sense of the situation, not every tiny detail. The story in this first part feels character driven. Then the author seems to have decided that it needed a bit of a boost, so the second half changes to a more active plot driven story. The author fails to get it all in, so we have a long sequence of telling towards the end, with characters almost 'well I never' devices at time, followed by an odd postscript in the form of a letter written by one of the minor characters, which in turn is followed by an appendix where the author recounts some of his research - as if we didn't believe in the fiction.
There are some strange loose ends. The introduction of Edgar Allan Poe is completely irrelevant -it could be any boy, and frankly it feels like a gimmick to attract the eye of the potential reader. The boy is not a central character, and indeed he and his friend could have been developed to much greater effect. A friend of the main character, Thomas Shields, seems to be important in the first half, but when his homosexual approach to Thomas is rebuffed he seems to fade away. Why is he there at all? Other individuals who are important in the early part, such as Miss Carswell, go flat like ciphers as the latter part of the book tries to cram all the story into its pages.
This book reads as if the plot was not fully worked out at the start, and the author realised halfway through that he needed to get a move on if he was to get all his desired story in.
Sorry but this is a bad book, whatever its reputation, or the skills of the author.
There are some strange loose ends. The introduction of Edgar Allan Poe is completely irrelevant -it could be any boy, and frankly it feels like a gimmick to attract the eye of the potential reader. The boy is not a central character, and indeed he and his friend could have been developed to much greater effect. A friend of the main character, Thomas Shields, seems to be important in the first half, but when his homosexual approach to Thomas is rebuffed he seems to fade away. Why is he there at all? Other individuals who are important in the early part, such as Miss Carswell, go flat like ciphers as the latter part of the book tries to cram all the story into its pages.
This book reads as if the plot was not fully worked out at the start, and the author realised halfway through that he needed to get a move on if he was to get all his desired story in.
Sorry but this is a bad book, whatever its reputation, or the skills of the author.
February 2, 2012
This is a book of suspense, culture, and murder. It is loosely and brilliantly set around the youth of Edgar Allen Poe. Don’t let that attract or detract you; the book is written in such a way that the fact of Poe causes shadows in your reading that may or may not be true. It adds to the suspense.
An Unpardonable Crime is a looking glass into the culture of old England of the 1800 and 1900’s. There is a fascinating image created as one reads the book. There is high finance, hidden schemes, and unforgettable characters woven throughout.
Subtly throughout the book is a strain of several romances, whose content and ending the reader may suspect, but whose appearance is unforeseen and pinnacle like. The two primary women in the book are incredibly developed and bring a level of awe to the setting. They are amazing.
I chose this book for the Edgar Allen Poe connection (usually a murder and suspense novel will not make its way off the shelf into my hands) but when I was done the characters were playing on in my mind.
At the end of the book (don’t peak) there are several appendixes about Edgar Allen Poe’s life and suspicions. These appendixes are actually a continuation of the history after the last event in the book. They are best read last; they are informative, interesting, and once again leave more questions than answers.
I highly recommend this novel as a historical fiction, romance, and a situation that will take the reader to another place. A book that ends, and the reader wants more, in my opinion is the best of all stories.
An Unpardonable Crime is a looking glass into the culture of old England of the 1800 and 1900’s. There is a fascinating image created as one reads the book. There is high finance, hidden schemes, and unforgettable characters woven throughout.
Subtly throughout the book is a strain of several romances, whose content and ending the reader may suspect, but whose appearance is unforeseen and pinnacle like. The two primary women in the book are incredibly developed and bring a level of awe to the setting. They are amazing.
I chose this book for the Edgar Allen Poe connection (usually a murder and suspense novel will not make its way off the shelf into my hands) but when I was done the characters were playing on in my mind.
At the end of the book (don’t peak) there are several appendixes about Edgar Allen Poe’s life and suspicions. These appendixes are actually a continuation of the history after the last event in the book. They are best read last; they are informative, interesting, and once again leave more questions than answers.
I highly recommend this novel as a historical fiction, romance, and a situation that will take the reader to another place. A book that ends, and the reader wants more, in my opinion is the best of all stories.
January 31, 2016
Muy bien escrito.
March 28, 2021
I hated this book and thought the ending was ridiculous.
April 4, 2019
La verdad es que este libro no me ha gustado tanto como esperaba. Se me ha hecho un poco bastante lento y denso, y la trama avanza tan despacio que se hace difícil disfrutarla. Los personajes, para mi gusto, no llegaban al punto de ser tridimensionales - salvo el narrador, Tom Shield.
Sin embargo, en general es un libro interesante. Imita muy bien la prosa de la época en la que pretende estar escrito, y describe perfectamente la sociedad victoriana. Si bien no creo que sea un libro que relea, ha sido definitivamente una lectura agradable.
Sin embargo, en general es un libro interesante. Imita muy bien la prosa de la época en la que pretende estar escrito, y describe perfectamente la sociedad victoriana. Si bien no creo que sea un libro que relea, ha sido definitivamente una lectura agradable.
December 17, 2024
Really, I would give this 3.5 stars, if Goodreads could expand their ratings.
I was initially interested in this book because of the fictionalized account of young Edgar Allan Poe. He doesn't play that big of a role, but it was fun to see some of the autobiographical elements versus total fiction. Overall, I found the plot intriguing, and I liked the narrator.
I would recommend this book if you can overlook the very complex solution to the mystery; however, I liked the story well enough to ignore those elements; in the end, the mystery's solution was not the most important to me.
I was initially interested in this book because of the fictionalized account of young Edgar Allan Poe. He doesn't play that big of a role, but it was fun to see some of the autobiographical elements versus total fiction. Overall, I found the plot intriguing, and I liked the narrator.
I would recommend this book if you can overlook the very complex solution to the mystery; however, I liked the story well enough to ignore those elements; in the end, the mystery's solution was not the most important to me.
December 28, 2019
I did enjoy this book, and the historical setting was very well done. The characters were interesting and well drawn. The plot was a good one. I have marked it down to a three star book because when I got to the end, I thought "oh, was that it". It was a bit of an anti-climax to be honest. And the hook of using Edgar Allen Poe as a character did not really go anywhere. I don't think it helped at all. But I am picking holes really. A good, enjoyable read.
May 2, 2021
For once, I have to disagree with the average rating this title has received on Goodreads.
Andrew Taylor does an excellent job in the first half of the novel at setting the scene (immediate post-Napoleonic England), creating the atmosphere, introducing a cast of interesting characters (if a little stereotypically drawn at times) and mustering up the suspense.
The plot, however, became somewhat too convoluted and improbable for me which is why I docked it a star but it was still gripping with many twists and turns. The use of a second narrator at the very end to update the story was a novel and effective literary device.
Overall, a rattling good read.
Andrew Taylor does an excellent job in the first half of the novel at setting the scene (immediate post-Napoleonic England), creating the atmosphere, introducing a cast of interesting characters (if a little stereotypically drawn at times) and mustering up the suspense.
The plot, however, became somewhat too convoluted and improbable for me which is why I docked it a star but it was still gripping with many twists and turns. The use of a second narrator at the very end to update the story was a novel and effective literary device.
Overall, a rattling good read.
November 10, 2023
إنجلترا 1819: توماس شيلد، المعلم الجديد في مدرسة خارج لندن، يقوم بتدريس صبي أمريكي شاب وأفضل صديق للصبي الحساس، تشارلز فرانت. ينجذب توماس إلى والدة فرانت الجميلة التعيسة، ويصبح عالقًا في مؤامرات عائلتها الملتوية.
لم يثر اهتمامي بالقدر الكافي .للأسف
لم يثر اهتمامي بالقدر الكافي .للأسف
February 26, 2019
Um bom livro. Achei que tem um pouco mais de detalhes do que o necessário para te envolver na trama, mas mesma assim uma boa história.
October 16, 2023
Your mother wouldn’t approve of how my mother raised me..
November 10, 2019
Excellent Gothic thriller set in the Georgian period.Thomas Shield a tutor is hired to teach two young boys and becomes entangled in the messy lives of the Frants and the Carswalls finding himself attracted to two different women. Murder fraud and secrets abound in this terrific read.
December 24, 2023
The American Boy is most definitely an archetypal "slow burner".
Which was all fair and well, but about half way through, when our main protagonist, the tutor Thomas Shield had been in his new setting of rural Gloucestershire for many, many chapters, the pace was so slow that the story just hadn't seemed to have moved along at all, for what seemed an entire age and was unfortunately starting to become a little tedious and was seriously threatening to ruin what had so far been, an intriguing tale.
But thankfully, we EVENTUALLY came to another major incident and the blockage was cleared. I do think however that editing out several chapters from the middle of the story would have greatly benefited the tale and removed any hint of unnecessary and laborious story telling.
Now that my gripe has been laid bare and is mercifully out of the way, I can say that the remainder of this yarn, was indeed an example of some very fine writing from Mr Taylor, an author I now consider to be among one of my favourites!
The tale was greatly atmospheric and certain events which had happened in the character's back stories really brought the era to life, for example, Thomas Shield himself had been a soldier at the battle of Waterloo, where, although he greatly downplayed the incident, he had been injured, to which he'd received a medal for bravery. The consequences of which led us to the situation in which our story derives.
There are also back stories for the American War of Independence and the subsequent war with Great Britain a few decades later, in which again lies a motive for this particular drama, namely corruption and murder.
The book also has a very gothic tone to it (anything in which Edgar Allen Poe appears would certainly be considered gothic!) and could easily pass itself off as Dickensian, with lots of big country mansions, haughty upper classes, bullying overlords, sly duplicitous servants and the odd reference to the threat of insanity and a workhouse hell!
To sum up, very, very slow paced, almost to the point of ruination, but it does pull up its britches and ends up being a fine read indeed!
Which was all fair and well, but about half way through, when our main protagonist, the tutor Thomas Shield had been in his new setting of rural Gloucestershire for many, many chapters, the pace was so slow that the story just hadn't seemed to have moved along at all, for what seemed an entire age and was unfortunately starting to become a little tedious and was seriously threatening to ruin what had so far been, an intriguing tale.
But thankfully, we EVENTUALLY came to another major incident and the blockage was cleared. I do think however that editing out several chapters from the middle of the story would have greatly benefited the tale and removed any hint of unnecessary and laborious story telling.
Now that my gripe has been laid bare and is mercifully out of the way, I can say that the remainder of this yarn, was indeed an example of some very fine writing from Mr Taylor, an author I now consider to be among one of my favourites!
The tale was greatly atmospheric and certain events which had happened in the character's back stories really brought the era to life, for example, Thomas Shield himself had been a soldier at the battle of Waterloo, where, although he greatly downplayed the incident, he had been injured, to which he'd received a medal for bravery. The consequences of which led us to the situation in which our story derives.
There are also back stories for the American War of Independence and the subsequent war with Great Britain a few decades later, in which again lies a motive for this particular drama, namely corruption and murder.
The book also has a very gothic tone to it (anything in which Edgar Allen Poe appears would certainly be considered gothic!) and could easily pass itself off as Dickensian, with lots of big country mansions, haughty upper classes, bullying overlords, sly duplicitous servants and the odd reference to the threat of insanity and a workhouse hell!
To sum up, very, very slow paced, almost to the point of ruination, but it does pull up its britches and ends up being a fine read indeed!
October 4, 2012
It's such a great feeling when you have really enjoyed reading a book and find that there are plenty of other novels by the same author that you can add to your list of books to read.
I enormously enjoyed reading this. I'm not really a fan of historical novels and when I'm in a bookshop I'll usually ignore those that are set in another era. I'm not really sure why, as this is one of a number of historical novels that I have read which have been excellent.
Not having ever read any Poe, I'm sure much of the impact of Taylor writing a novel that pays homage to Poe's own work, while including him as a central character, was lost on me. I simply enjoyed a great thriller, which contains plenty of twists and turns. The setting in 1820 makes the reader pause for thought at times, as the fundamental elements of the story feel very current, yet the unfamiliarity of daily life at the time compared to the one we know today can suddenly be all too apparent. Unfamiliar social conventions, particularly regarding the class system and the interaction between sexes, help add to the mystery and tension in the book.
I enormously enjoyed reading this. I'm not really a fan of historical novels and when I'm in a bookshop I'll usually ignore those that are set in another era. I'm not really sure why, as this is one of a number of historical novels that I have read which have been excellent.
Not having ever read any Poe, I'm sure much of the impact of Taylor writing a novel that pays homage to Poe's own work, while including him as a central character, was lost on me. I simply enjoyed a great thriller, which contains plenty of twists and turns. The setting in 1820 makes the reader pause for thought at times, as the fundamental elements of the story feel very current, yet the unfamiliarity of daily life at the time compared to the one we know today can suddenly be all too apparent. Unfamiliar social conventions, particularly regarding the class system and the interaction between sexes, help add to the mystery and tension in the book.
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