The American Boy

by Andrew Taylor (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2006

  $4.47

• Used

  Paperback
  2008

  $4.54

  Interweaving real and fictional elements, 'The American Boy' is a major literary historical crime novel in the tradition of 'An Instance of the Fingerpost' and 'Possession'. Repackaged as part of the Perennial fiction promotion. 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 dearly value. Despite his efforts, Shield is caught up in a deadly tangle of sex, money, murder and lies -- a tangle that grips him even tighter as he tries to escape from it. And what of the strange American child, at the heart of these macabre events -- what is the secret of the boy named Edgar Allan Poe?

• New

  Paperback
  2004

  $12.93

  The No. 1 bestseller and award-winning Richard & Judy Book Club pick. An atmospheric and deeply absorbing literary historical crime classic - featured in The Times 'Top Ten Crime Novels of the Decade'. England 1819: Thomas Shield, a new master at a school just outside London, is tutor to a young American boy and the child's sensitive best friend, Charles Frant. Helplessly drawn to Frant's beautiful, unhappy mother, Thomas becomes entwined in their family's affairs. When a brutal murder takes place in London's seedy backstreets, it is not certain who either the victim or the killer is. But all clues seem to lead back to the Frant household, and Shield is tangled in a web of lies, money, sex and death that threatens to tear his new life apart. And what of the strange American boy at the heart of these macabre events - what is the dark secret of young Edgar Allan Poe?