cover image The Runaway’s Gold

The Runaway’s Gold

Emilie Christie Burack. Abrams/Amulet, $16.95 (320p) ISBN 978-1-4197-1369-9

Two dissimilar locales—the Shetland Islands and New York City—are the settings for debut author Burack’s ambitious story of 14-year-old Shetlander Christopher Robertson, on the run from the law in his village, where his family barely makes a living as tenant farmers and fishermen. Forced by his father to kill a neighbor’s ewe and framed by his older brother for the theft of his father’s pouch of coins, Christopher—after a stay in prison, among other dangerous escapades—ends up in New York, beholden to one Billy Tweed, on his way to becoming the infamous Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall. Set in 1842 and overflowing with historical detail, the novel makes generous use of dialect, which—along with a plot roving in time and packed with characters—requires concentration, but leads to a rewarding conclusion that intertwines a piece of early American history with Christopher and his Shetland home. Extensive back material explains the background of the Shetland Islands while separating the book’s fictional aspects from those rooted in history. Ages 8–14. Agent: Charlotte Sheedy, Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency. (May)