The Island of Worthy Boys: A Novel

by Connie Hertzberg Mayo

Paperback, 2015

Status

Available

Call number

813.6

Genres

Historical Fiction

General Fiction

Fiction

Collections

Read, ipad-ebook

Publication

She Writes Press (2015), 362 pages

Description

Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML:Winner of the 2016 Gold Medal for Best Regional Fiction, Independent Publisher Book Awards In 1889, the Boston Farm School didn't accept boys with any sort of criminal record. Which made it the perfect hiding place for two boys who accidentally killed someone. Charles has been living alone on the streets of Boston for the last two of his twelve years. Aidan's mom can't stay sober enough to keep her job. When the boys team up, Charles teaches Aidan the art of rolling drunks in the saloon and brothel district, and life starts to look up�??until a robbery goes horribly wrong one night and they need to leave the city or risk arrest. When the boys con their way into The Boston Farm School�??located on an island one mile out in Boston Harbor�??they think they've cheated fate. But the Superintendent is obsessed with keeping the bad element out of his school, and as both their story and their friendship start to splinter, Charles and Aidan discover they are not as far from the law as they h… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member linda.marsheells

This book is headed to Boston to my dad to read next! HIS dad was born around the time of the setting of this book, i KNOW he'll be in awe as much as i was.

Thompson Island off the coast of Boston Mass. was turned into a farm school for boys. Reform schools of the time were dens of horror and this

place actually created productive young men for decades before closing in the 70's.

The story centers around 2 young kids caught running the streets, caught in the midst of a crime. This book, the Island of Worthy Boys was well worth every minute spent reading it!

Show Less

2 more

LibraryThing member froxgirl

This is fascinating, well written and researched historical fiction about a school founded in 1835 on Thompson Island in Boston Harbor, whose mission was to teach boys between 10-14 a useful trade (and religion). The first part deals with the miserable poverty of two "street Arabs", Charles and

Aidan, in the 1890s. The author recreates the frightful lives and marginal existences of many Boston residents - yet the reader can still see the lure of the streets, just like it is today for some boys and men. In the second half, the boys escape from their jobs as petty thieves to the School. There are many twists, turns, and vivid characters in the story. An epilogue set in the 1920s provides some closure; however, I hope there is a sequel in the works - because it would be another good read to see how these boys-to-men, and Boston, weathered the Great Depression.

Show Less

LibraryThing member IreneCole

This was an engaging, beautifully written work of historical fiction. While the main characters Charles and Aidan are fictitious, Boston Asylum and Farm School for Indigent Boys did actually exist as does Thompson Island MA.
Charles and Aidan meet quite by accident and although Charles is wary of

people and used to being alone the two quickly become the best of friends. They are each suffering through their own hard times and their friendship is only solidified when things take a turn for the worse. I was totally immersed in this story and couldn't put it down.

I received an advance copy in exchange for review

Show Less

Fewer