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Black Jack
A macabre tale that begins when a gigantic villain, having cheated the hangman by means of a silver tube inserted in this throat. Black Jack thereafter enlists the unwilling Tolly, a London apprentice, to accompany him on his career of crime. The author also wrote "Devil-in-the-Fog".
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
4 people are currently reading
197 people want to read
About the author
Leon Garfield
121 books49 followersLeon Garfield FRSL (14 July 1921 – 2 June 1996) was a British writer of fiction. He is best known for children's historical novels, though he also wrote for adults. He wrote more than thirty books and scripted Shakespeare: The Animated Tales for television.
Garfield attended Brighton Grammar School (1932-1938) and went on to study art at Regent Street Polytechnic, but his studies were interrupted first by lack of funds for fees, then by the outbreak of World War II. He married Lena Leah Davies in April, 1941, at Golders Green Synagogue but they separated after only a few months. For his service in the war he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. While posted in Belgium he met Vivien Alcock, then an ambulance driver, who would go on to become his second wife (in 1948) and a well-known children's author. She would also greatly influence Garfield's writing, giving him suggestions for his writing, including the original idea for Smith. After the war Garfield worked as a biochemical laboratory technician at the Whittington Hospital in Islington, writing in his spare time until the 1960s, when he was successful enough to write full-time. In 1964, the couple adopted a baby girl, called Jane after Jane Austen, a favourite writer of both parents.
Garfield wrote his first book, the pirate novel Jack Holborn, for adult readers but a Constable & Co. editor saw its potential as a children's novel and persuaded him to adapt it for a younger audience. In that form it was published by Constable in 1964. His second book, Devil-in-the-Fog (1966), won the first annual Guardian Prize and was serialised for television, as were several later works (below). Devil was the first of several historical adventure novels, typically set late in the eighteenth century and featuring a character of humble origins (in this case a boy from a family of traveling actors) pushed into the midst of a threatening intrigue. Another was Smith (1967), with the eponymous hero a young pickpocket accepted into a wealthy household; it won the Phoenix Award in 1987. Yet another was Black Jack (1968), in which a young apprentice is forced by accident and his conscience to accompany a murderous criminal.
In 1970, Garfield's work started to move in new directions with The God Beneath the Sea, a re-telling of numerous Greek myths in one narrative, written by Garfield and Edward Blishen and illustrated by Charles Keeping. It won the annual Carnegie Medal for British children's books. Garfield, Blishen, and Keeping collaborated again on a sequel, The Golden Shadow (1973). The Drummer Boy (1970) was another adventure story, but concerned more with a central moral problem, and apparently aimed at somewhat older readers, a trend continued in The Prisoners of September (1975) republished in 1989 by Lions Tracks, under the title Revolution!, The Pleasure Garden (1976) and The Confidence Man (1978). The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris (1972) was a black comedy in which two boys decide to test the plausibility of Romulus and Remus using one of the boys' baby sister. Most notable at the time was a series of linked long short stories about apprentices, published separately between 1976 and 1978, and then as a collection, The Apprentices. The more adult themed books of the mid-1970s met with a mixed reception and Garfield returned to the model of his earlier books with John Diamond, which won a Whitbread Award in 1980, and The December Rose (1986). In 1980 he also wrote an ending for The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished at the 1870 death of Dickens, an author who had been a major influence on Garfield's own style.
He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1985. On 2 June 1996 he died of cancer at the Whittington Hospital, where he had once worked.
Garfield attended Brighton Grammar School (1932-1938) and went on to study art at Regent Street Polytechnic, but his studies were interrupted first by lack of funds for fees, then by the outbreak of World War II. He married Lena Leah Davies in April, 1941, at Golders Green Synagogue but they separated after only a few months. For his service in the war he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. While posted in Belgium he met Vivien Alcock, then an ambulance driver, who would go on to become his second wife (in 1948) and a well-known children's author. She would also greatly influence Garfield's writing, giving him suggestions for his writing, including the original idea for Smith. After the war Garfield worked as a biochemical laboratory technician at the Whittington Hospital in Islington, writing in his spare time until the 1960s, when he was successful enough to write full-time. In 1964, the couple adopted a baby girl, called Jane after Jane Austen, a favourite writer of both parents.
Garfield wrote his first book, the pirate novel Jack Holborn, for adult readers but a Constable & Co. editor saw its potential as a children's novel and persuaded him to adapt it for a younger audience. In that form it was published by Constable in 1964. His second book, Devil-in-the-Fog (1966), won the first annual Guardian Prize and was serialised for television, as were several later works (below). Devil was the first of several historical adventure novels, typically set late in the eighteenth century and featuring a character of humble origins (in this case a boy from a family of traveling actors) pushed into the midst of a threatening intrigue. Another was Smith (1967), with the eponymous hero a young pickpocket accepted into a wealthy household; it won the Phoenix Award in 1987. Yet another was Black Jack (1968), in which a young apprentice is forced by accident and his conscience to accompany a murderous criminal.
In 1970, Garfield's work started to move in new directions with The God Beneath the Sea, a re-telling of numerous Greek myths in one narrative, written by Garfield and Edward Blishen and illustrated by Charles Keeping. It won the annual Carnegie Medal for British children's books. Garfield, Blishen, and Keeping collaborated again on a sequel, The Golden Shadow (1973). The Drummer Boy (1970) was another adventure story, but concerned more with a central moral problem, and apparently aimed at somewhat older readers, a trend continued in The Prisoners of September (1975) republished in 1989 by Lions Tracks, under the title Revolution!, The Pleasure Garden (1976) and The Confidence Man (1978). The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris (1972) was a black comedy in which two boys decide to test the plausibility of Romulus and Remus using one of the boys' baby sister. Most notable at the time was a series of linked long short stories about apprentices, published separately between 1976 and 1978, and then as a collection, The Apprentices. The more adult themed books of the mid-1970s met with a mixed reception and Garfield returned to the model of his earlier books with John Diamond, which won a Whitbread Award in 1980, and The December Rose (1986). In 1980 he also wrote an ending for The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished at the 1870 death of Dickens, an author who had been a major influence on Garfield's own style.
He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1985. On 2 June 1996 he died of cancer at the Whittington Hospital, where he had once worked.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
September 13, 2011
I'm ashamed to admit I hadn't read this before, despite having owned a copy since 1984 :) what an incredible oversight. Garfield's in fine form here, telling a very human and grounded story with his trademark humour, pathos, and beautifully crafted descriptions of people and their behaviour. The man was a bloody genius :) and his characters really feel organic, springing from the page, going their own way, bloodyminded, innocent, blinkered or naive as the case may be. You genuinely feel for them - and the fragile, confused, frustrating Belle/Tolly relationship is beautifully drawn. And slyly, subtly, sympathetically funny. Garfield was a master of his trade.
I came to this after seeing the Loach adaptation, which differs significantly in several key respects; would have to say that the original text is definitely more satisfying (and the title character in particular much more well-rounded and organic in his journey).
I came to this after seeing the Loach adaptation, which differs significantly in several key respects; would have to say that the original text is definitely more satisfying (and the title character in particular much more well-rounded and organic in his journey).
September 2, 2009
Blackjack opens with a portrait of a woman pursuing her 'quaint' profession - as a Tyburn widow, she claims the bodies of hanged vagrants as her 'husbands' then sells them off for experimentation at surgeons' hall.
This is the first of many striking sketches that pepper Garfield's book - one aimed at young readers, set amidst the apocalyptic chaos of late 18th Century Britain, skittering from the madhouse to the gallows, via the circus and the filthy streets of working class London. It's a gothic melodrama of the most gleefully vicarious kind, and had such a vivid effect on me as a child that, unlike most of the books I read as a pre-teen, I still enjoy going back to it.
This is the first of many striking sketches that pepper Garfield's book - one aimed at young readers, set amidst the apocalyptic chaos of late 18th Century Britain, skittering from the madhouse to the gallows, via the circus and the filthy streets of working class London. It's a gothic melodrama of the most gleefully vicarious kind, and had such a vivid effect on me as a child that, unlike most of the books I read as a pre-teen, I still enjoy going back to it.
August 24, 2015
I said about Jack Holborn that his style needed to be married to a decent story - this was it.
The characters were interesting, the quack loveable, Hatch hate-worthy, Black Jack and Belle were mysterious, inscrutable and interesting and Tolly less bland than Jack Holborn.
Also, parts were wonderfully schlocky. The tyburn beginning, the escape from the madhouse, the earthquake stuff. I had a brilliant time with this book.
The characters were interesting, the quack loveable, Hatch hate-worthy, Black Jack and Belle were mysterious, inscrutable and interesting and Tolly less bland than Jack Holborn.
Also, parts were wonderfully schlocky. The tyburn beginning, the escape from the madhouse, the earthquake stuff. I had a brilliant time with this book.
November 8, 2018
review of
Leon Garfield's Black Jack
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - November 8, 2018
One thing leads to another & the next thing ya know I'm reading a YA novel from 1968. Many adults seem to read YA novels almost exclusively, I'm not one of them, maybe they're YA librarians. My particular trajectory was this: I was at the central public library looking thru the DVDs. I saw the movie version of Black Jack & saw that it's by Ken Loach. I'd previously witnessed his Bread and Roses (2000) about the Spanish Civil War, wch I remembered liking very much. What I didn't remember is that I'd also witnessed his Riff Raff (1991) about exploited construction workers, wch I also liked very much. Unfortunately, I got drunk while I was watching that one & was so riled up afterwards that I almost started a fight w/ an innocent guy out on the street b/c he was 'rich' enuf to have a car, a shitty car. Not one of my finer moments. Thank goodness he didn't get out of his car, maybe he was on parole or probation or something. Maybe the woman he was w/ kept him calm. The woman I was w/ didn't keep me calm but no doubt we went back to her place for a rigorous fuck.
ANYWAY, I checked out the movie & loved it. The (non?)actors spoke w/ accents I cdn't always understand but that added to the authenticity. I'd never heard og Garfield before but I was so convinced by its mid-18th-century setting that I thought he was probably a mid-19th-century writer instead of the mid-20th-century writer he turned out to be. I just had to read the bk, donchaknow?! The language is wonderful:
"There are many queer ways of earning a living; but none so quaint as Mrs. Gorgandy's. She's a Tyburn widow. Early and black on a Monday morning, she was up at the Tree, all in a tragic flutter, waiting to be bereaved." - p 3
"In 1571, the Tyburn Tree was erected at the junction of today's Edgware Road, Bayswater Road and Oxford Street, near where Marble Arch is currently situated. The "Tree" or "Triple Tree" was a novel form of gallows, consisting of a horizontal wooden triangle supported by three legs (an arrangement known as a "three-legged mare" or "three-legged stool"). Several felons could thus be hanged at once, and so the gallows were used for mass executions, such as on 23 June 1649 when 24 prisoners—23 men and one woman—were hanged simultaneously, having been conveyed there in eight carts.
"The Tree stood in the middle of the roadway, providing a major landmark in west London and presenting a very obvious symbol of the law to travellers. After executions, the bodies would be buried nearby or in later times removed for dissection by anatomists. The crowd would sometimes fight over a body with surgeons, by fear that dismemberment could prevent the resurrection of the body on Judgement Day (see Jack Sheppard, Dick Turpin or William Spiggot).
"The first victim of the "Tyburn Tree" was John Story, a Roman Catholic who was convicted and tried for treason. A plaque to the Catholic martyrs executed at Tyburn in the period 1535–1681 is located at 8 Hyde Park Place, the site of Tyburn convent. Among the more notable individuals suspended from the "Tree" in the following centuries were John Bradshaw, Henry Ireton and Oliver Cromwell, who were already dead but were disinterred and hanged at Tyburn in January 1661 on the orders of the Cavalier Parliament in an act of posthumous revenge for their part in the beheading of King Charles I.
"The gallows seem to have been replaced several times, probably because of wear, but in general the entire structure stood all the time in Tyburn. After some acts of vandalism, in October 1759 it was decided to replace the permanent structure with new moving gallows until the last execution in Tyburn, probably carried out in November 1783.
"The executions were public spectacles and proved extremely popular, attracting crowds of thousands. The enterprising villagers of Tyburn erected large spectator stands so that as many as possible could see the hangings (for a fee). On one occasion, the stands collapsed, reportedly killing and injuring hundreds of people. This did not prove a deterrent, however, and the executions continued to be treated as public holidays, with London apprentices being given the day off for them. One such event was depicted by William Hogarth in his satirical print, The Idle 'Prentice Executed at Tyburn (1747).
"Tyburn was commonly invoked in euphemisms for capital punishment—for instance, to "take a ride to Tyburn" (or simply "go west") was to go to one's hanging, "Lord of the Manor of Tyburn" was the public hangman, "dancing the Tyburn jig" was the act of being hanged, and so on. Convicts would be transported to the site in an open ox-cart from Newgate Prison. They were expected to put on a good show, wearing their finest clothes and going to their deaths with insouciance. The crowd would cheer a "good dying", but would jeer any displays of weakness on the part of the condemned."
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyburn
Hence, a "Tyburn widow" was a woman widowed by the execution of her husband. In this case, however, Mrs. Gorgandy was a woman who only pretended to be the widow so that she cd claim the body & then sell it to anatomists. One might say an opportunist of a particularly nasty sort who sets the mood of this bk very well. This is a bk for Young Adults?! Ok, there's no sex in it, only murder & exploitation so it's 'ok'. Sheesh. But, HEY!, the writing's great:
"He went to the fireplace, in which there was a pile of ashes—as if a large family had burned their secrets there before going upstairs to hang themselves in a group. He looked up, and discovered the chimney partially blocked by a fall of bricks, two of which so resembled the soles of boots that Dorking wondered if some previous apprentice had tried to escape that way and failed."
[..]
"Not that a dead man frightened him much. He came from Shoreham and drowned men washed up on the beach with the sea's general air of "Is this yours? I don't want it," had made him familiar enough with corpses of all sizes and conditions." - p 9
"Anxious, inquisitive faces . . . There was Mrs. Arbuthnot, neatly shawled, never took by surprise—to the aggravation of other ladies whose hair was in as many twisted papers as a lawyer's account." - p 114
"Already the sun was deep and bloody and had a deathbed droop. All the glasses and tankards and walls in the Angel's parlor were touched with its scarlet, and the shadows seemed as deep as gaping rents in the ground." - p 166
Perhaps the detail that's stuck in my memory the most is that of a bent spoon in the throat as protection against suffocation from hanging. Ya never know when such a thing might come in handy someday:
"With infinite caution—and dreading that, if he made an ill-judged move the ruffian would snap his hand off at the wrist—he drew out a bent silver tube some half an inch wide and four inches long.
"This tube had been the cause of Black Jack's outliving Mr. Ketch's rope. He'd wedged it in his throat as a preventative against strangulation." - p 14
Note that I wrote "spoon" but that the story has it as "tube". I reckon it was a spoon in the movie—at least that's the way I remember it. Maybe Loach was being more historically accurate. A tube seems like it wd work better but a spoon might've been more available. Wd a prisoner have metal cutlery for their last meal these days? Or wd it be plastic? Woe be it unto the world when plastic was invented.
When I think of the name "Black Jack" I think of a song performed by The Incredible String Band named "Black Jack Davy" about a hedonistic free outlaw. Then, of course, there's the card game. This Black Jack is one nasty tough character. I don't recall that being stressed much in the movie.
"Black Jack's health and strength seemed to have but a single aim: robbery and murder whenever a living soul crossed his shaking path.
""You're milk, Tolly—skimmed milk!" he sneered at the boy's pleading for the life of a farmer who rode, unsuspecting by." - p 31
Perhaps an aspect of this being a YA novel is that the youth, virtually defenseless against Black Jack's strength & ferocity, successfully acts as an ameliorating factor.
B/c of the authenticity of the accents in the movie, I cdn't understand much of what was sd — esp when it was fast. That was one of the reasons why I wanted to read the bk — so that I cd understand passages like this:
""D'you see it?" she whispered.
""What—where?"
""A tall black tower with a golden top—higher than the sky. There are white angels flying with white wings. And all the world's singing a lullaby—for the sun's gone to bed in a blanket. D'you see it now?"" - p 45
W/o catching all the words in the movie, I understood the gist of it. It was sad to see the girl written off as crazy when she was speaking fancifully & w/ imagination. Some of the detail of the bk was 'inevitably' missing from the movie — yet another reason for reading:
""Polly put the kettle on!" said Mrs. Mitchell. Whereupon the wretched creature nodded, crawled to her feet and hobbled to the black grate, carefully holding a kettle none but she could see." - p 84
"["]Oh, now you spilled it! And on poor Polly!"
"At once, Polly let out a great howl of distress and clutched her leg." - p 85
""And the shawl, sir," said Htach respectfully. "She sets great store by it, y'know. I only fetched it to show me Bony-Fridays, after all!"" - p 107
Now it was obvious to me that "Bony-Fridays" was either rhyming slang for or a mispronunciation of bona fides: in this case proof of knowledge of the missing girl's whereabouts. However, looking for "Bony Fridays" on the great oracle produced nothing of the kind — nor is it in either of my 2 rhyming slang dictionaries — nor was it found in an online Cockney Rhyming Slang dictionary ( http://aldertons.com/home/slang/ ). From wch I conclude that mispronunciation is what's hinted at but it's possible that Garfield had better knowledge of rhyming slang.
The story has a happy ending, despite being generally morbid. The hero prevails & vows to watch over his health out of love for another:
"Or worse still; what would become of her if he should die first? He shivered and determined to keep in health, avoid all quarrels and never approach a horse from behind." - p 143
I probably wd've loved this as a kid — even tho the last thing I needed was more food for melancholy. Instead I got to love it as an adult — including its highly impractical romanticism, easily recogniziable as akin to my own.
Leon Garfield's Black Jack
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - November 8, 2018
One thing leads to another & the next thing ya know I'm reading a YA novel from 1968. Many adults seem to read YA novels almost exclusively, I'm not one of them, maybe they're YA librarians. My particular trajectory was this: I was at the central public library looking thru the DVDs. I saw the movie version of Black Jack & saw that it's by Ken Loach. I'd previously witnessed his Bread and Roses (2000) about the Spanish Civil War, wch I remembered liking very much. What I didn't remember is that I'd also witnessed his Riff Raff (1991) about exploited construction workers, wch I also liked very much. Unfortunately, I got drunk while I was watching that one & was so riled up afterwards that I almost started a fight w/ an innocent guy out on the street b/c he was 'rich' enuf to have a car, a shitty car. Not one of my finer moments. Thank goodness he didn't get out of his car, maybe he was on parole or probation or something. Maybe the woman he was w/ kept him calm. The woman I was w/ didn't keep me calm but no doubt we went back to her place for a rigorous fuck.
ANYWAY, I checked out the movie & loved it. The (non?)actors spoke w/ accents I cdn't always understand but that added to the authenticity. I'd never heard og Garfield before but I was so convinced by its mid-18th-century setting that I thought he was probably a mid-19th-century writer instead of the mid-20th-century writer he turned out to be. I just had to read the bk, donchaknow?! The language is wonderful:
"There are many queer ways of earning a living; but none so quaint as Mrs. Gorgandy's. She's a Tyburn widow. Early and black on a Monday morning, she was up at the Tree, all in a tragic flutter, waiting to be bereaved." - p 3
"In 1571, the Tyburn Tree was erected at the junction of today's Edgware Road, Bayswater Road and Oxford Street, near where Marble Arch is currently situated. The "Tree" or "Triple Tree" was a novel form of gallows, consisting of a horizontal wooden triangle supported by three legs (an arrangement known as a "three-legged mare" or "three-legged stool"). Several felons could thus be hanged at once, and so the gallows were used for mass executions, such as on 23 June 1649 when 24 prisoners—23 men and one woman—were hanged simultaneously, having been conveyed there in eight carts.
"The Tree stood in the middle of the roadway, providing a major landmark in west London and presenting a very obvious symbol of the law to travellers. After executions, the bodies would be buried nearby or in later times removed for dissection by anatomists. The crowd would sometimes fight over a body with surgeons, by fear that dismemberment could prevent the resurrection of the body on Judgement Day (see Jack Sheppard, Dick Turpin or William Spiggot).
"The first victim of the "Tyburn Tree" was John Story, a Roman Catholic who was convicted and tried for treason. A plaque to the Catholic martyrs executed at Tyburn in the period 1535–1681 is located at 8 Hyde Park Place, the site of Tyburn convent. Among the more notable individuals suspended from the "Tree" in the following centuries were John Bradshaw, Henry Ireton and Oliver Cromwell, who were already dead but were disinterred and hanged at Tyburn in January 1661 on the orders of the Cavalier Parliament in an act of posthumous revenge for their part in the beheading of King Charles I.
"The gallows seem to have been replaced several times, probably because of wear, but in general the entire structure stood all the time in Tyburn. After some acts of vandalism, in October 1759 it was decided to replace the permanent structure with new moving gallows until the last execution in Tyburn, probably carried out in November 1783.
"The executions were public spectacles and proved extremely popular, attracting crowds of thousands. The enterprising villagers of Tyburn erected large spectator stands so that as many as possible could see the hangings (for a fee). On one occasion, the stands collapsed, reportedly killing and injuring hundreds of people. This did not prove a deterrent, however, and the executions continued to be treated as public holidays, with London apprentices being given the day off for them. One such event was depicted by William Hogarth in his satirical print, The Idle 'Prentice Executed at Tyburn (1747).
"Tyburn was commonly invoked in euphemisms for capital punishment—for instance, to "take a ride to Tyburn" (or simply "go west") was to go to one's hanging, "Lord of the Manor of Tyburn" was the public hangman, "dancing the Tyburn jig" was the act of being hanged, and so on. Convicts would be transported to the site in an open ox-cart from Newgate Prison. They were expected to put on a good show, wearing their finest clothes and going to their deaths with insouciance. The crowd would cheer a "good dying", but would jeer any displays of weakness on the part of the condemned."
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyburn
Hence, a "Tyburn widow" was a woman widowed by the execution of her husband. In this case, however, Mrs. Gorgandy was a woman who only pretended to be the widow so that she cd claim the body & then sell it to anatomists. One might say an opportunist of a particularly nasty sort who sets the mood of this bk very well. This is a bk for Young Adults?! Ok, there's no sex in it, only murder & exploitation so it's 'ok'. Sheesh. But, HEY!, the writing's great:
"He went to the fireplace, in which there was a pile of ashes—as if a large family had burned their secrets there before going upstairs to hang themselves in a group. He looked up, and discovered the chimney partially blocked by a fall of bricks, two of which so resembled the soles of boots that Dorking wondered if some previous apprentice had tried to escape that way and failed."
[..]
"Not that a dead man frightened him much. He came from Shoreham and drowned men washed up on the beach with the sea's general air of "Is this yours? I don't want it," had made him familiar enough with corpses of all sizes and conditions." - p 9
"Anxious, inquisitive faces . . . There was Mrs. Arbuthnot, neatly shawled, never took by surprise—to the aggravation of other ladies whose hair was in as many twisted papers as a lawyer's account." - p 114
"Already the sun was deep and bloody and had a deathbed droop. All the glasses and tankards and walls in the Angel's parlor were touched with its scarlet, and the shadows seemed as deep as gaping rents in the ground." - p 166
Perhaps the detail that's stuck in my memory the most is that of a bent spoon in the throat as protection against suffocation from hanging. Ya never know when such a thing might come in handy someday:
"With infinite caution—and dreading that, if he made an ill-judged move the ruffian would snap his hand off at the wrist—he drew out a bent silver tube some half an inch wide and four inches long.
"This tube had been the cause of Black Jack's outliving Mr. Ketch's rope. He'd wedged it in his throat as a preventative against strangulation." - p 14
Note that I wrote "spoon" but that the story has it as "tube". I reckon it was a spoon in the movie—at least that's the way I remember it. Maybe Loach was being more historically accurate. A tube seems like it wd work better but a spoon might've been more available. Wd a prisoner have metal cutlery for their last meal these days? Or wd it be plastic? Woe be it unto the world when plastic was invented.
When I think of the name "Black Jack" I think of a song performed by The Incredible String Band named "Black Jack Davy" about a hedonistic free outlaw. Then, of course, there's the card game. This Black Jack is one nasty tough character. I don't recall that being stressed much in the movie.
"Black Jack's health and strength seemed to have but a single aim: robbery and murder whenever a living soul crossed his shaking path.
""You're milk, Tolly—skimmed milk!" he sneered at the boy's pleading for the life of a farmer who rode, unsuspecting by." - p 31
Perhaps an aspect of this being a YA novel is that the youth, virtually defenseless against Black Jack's strength & ferocity, successfully acts as an ameliorating factor.
B/c of the authenticity of the accents in the movie, I cdn't understand much of what was sd — esp when it was fast. That was one of the reasons why I wanted to read the bk — so that I cd understand passages like this:
""D'you see it?" she whispered.
""What—where?"
""A tall black tower with a golden top—higher than the sky. There are white angels flying with white wings. And all the world's singing a lullaby—for the sun's gone to bed in a blanket. D'you see it now?"" - p 45
W/o catching all the words in the movie, I understood the gist of it. It was sad to see the girl written off as crazy when she was speaking fancifully & w/ imagination. Some of the detail of the bk was 'inevitably' missing from the movie — yet another reason for reading:
""Polly put the kettle on!" said Mrs. Mitchell. Whereupon the wretched creature nodded, crawled to her feet and hobbled to the black grate, carefully holding a kettle none but she could see." - p 84
"["]Oh, now you spilled it! And on poor Polly!"
"At once, Polly let out a great howl of distress and clutched her leg." - p 85
""And the shawl, sir," said Htach respectfully. "She sets great store by it, y'know. I only fetched it to show me Bony-Fridays, after all!"" - p 107
Now it was obvious to me that "Bony-Fridays" was either rhyming slang for or a mispronunciation of bona fides: in this case proof of knowledge of the missing girl's whereabouts. However, looking for "Bony Fridays" on the great oracle produced nothing of the kind — nor is it in either of my 2 rhyming slang dictionaries — nor was it found in an online Cockney Rhyming Slang dictionary ( http://aldertons.com/home/slang/ ). From wch I conclude that mispronunciation is what's hinted at but it's possible that Garfield had better knowledge of rhyming slang.
The story has a happy ending, despite being generally morbid. The hero prevails & vows to watch over his health out of love for another:
"Or worse still; what would become of her if he should die first? He shivered and determined to keep in health, avoid all quarrels and never approach a horse from behind." - p 143
I probably wd've loved this as a kid — even tho the last thing I needed was more food for melancholy. Instead I got to love it as an adult — including its highly impractical romanticism, easily recogniziable as akin to my own.
October 26, 2012
A book from my youth that I picked up at a library sale. It is a wonderfully written tale of a young man who finds his life intertwined with those of a hanged murderer and an escaped mad girl in London during the 19th Century. This was a book that I hadn't read in 35+ years, but imagery from it was still floating around in my head. It held up very well and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone who likes period novels. A quick and entertaining read.
maybe-read-sometime
March 28, 2012A nice historical, captures the atmosphere well. More melancholy than I am inclined to read at the moment, though.
September 18, 2019
One from what I consider to be the golden age of novels for children. Brutal and characterful and historically rich with a touch of romance. Leon Garfield was one of the best and perhaps THE best.
April 10, 2021
This is a great children's book, then re-reading as an adult I gained new perspective. The story is unique, and a brilliant segway into historical fiction as a genre. I haven't seen any other 'children's books' that have matched this or even attempted to copy the narrative. Once you get to grips with the style of writing I think you will enjoy this grisly tale of an execution gone wrong...
June 19, 2017
Another good book by Leon Garfield. This time the tale of redemption of a villain as well as the young hero of the story.
December 20, 2020
He hooked me about half way in. Great historical context. Exciting. Toughing.
June 19, 2021
Read at school.. stayed with me...
January 16, 2025
Rattling good yarn
October 29, 2025
I remember this story from my childhood, I really enjoyed this historical novella. Half hanged.
January 16, 2026
(I'm intrigued about the variations of the cover. Both sides of the initial cover illustration have been used on the front, and then it seems it was redrawn slightly differently a bit later on)
February 10, 2017
It was really good, not my type though.
January 8, 2014
My year six teacher gave us this to read and I'll probably never forget the lessons it taught me about perceived right and wrong. The last page of the book I remember something about the sea. It was written for children I think but had this weird depth, terror and sense of learning about that in people. What a great teacher Ms. Nielsen was to give kids such a strange and thoughtful book. All those dark poems, books and art classes have left me appreciating things out of the shadows more. The ideas of justice and independence of character in this book are something you can't teach easily.
June 7, 2014
After watching the 1979 film version of Black Jack at the Wisconsin Film Festival, I had to read the original young-reader novel that it was based on. This 19th century based young-apprentice-has-an-adventure novel is fun, a little dark, and actually quite sweet. The whole thing is reminiscent of 1950s-60s Disney live-action adventure shows. It is an example of how young-reader novels should be written (and is entertaining for the adult reader as well). The Ken Loach film does a wonderful job capturing the feel of Garfield's novel--so, if you do like the book, search out the film.
September 14, 2007
This book was entertaining, and possibly the only thing I've read involving caravans that didn't also involve magic. An adventure story is a good thing. The falling in love with the crazy girl (who turns out not to be crazy) works because it's a kids book, where otherwise it would be a little off.
June 24, 2015
Leon Garfield definitely has a unique sense of story and imagination. A interesting adventure with Tolly leads from a resurrected hanged man, to the far West horizon. Full of plot twists and strange characters.
November 19, 2008
This was a fun and very sweet little read. A little odd, but nice.
August 10, 2012
This was a really good book. I wasn't bored the whole time I read it and wanted read it cover to cover.
October 13, 2012
Loads of fun as you are swept through a dark 17th-century England with Dickensian characters. Enjoy the ride!
July 21, 2015
I enjoyed this immensely. Good characters, sharp writing, and the last fifty or so pages kept my eyes racing forward until I thought they would fly out of my head.
March 20, 2013
reminded me of Dickens
January 3, 2018
*shudders* This book FREAKED. ME. OUT. when I was a kid. I still hate it.
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