The Hanging Boy

Set in Washington during the last bloody years of the Civil War, The Hanging Boy is the tale of a young orphan boy named Samuel who moves next to the boardinghouse owned by the widow Mrs. Mary Surratt. The respectable widow becomes teacher, mentor and spiritual guide for the boy. By a twist of fate, at the same time Samuel also becomes playmate and best friend of Tad Lincoln in the Executive Mansion. The boy's father, President Abraham Lincoln, still mourning the loss of his own boy Willie, embraces Samuel as another son and member of the family.Drawn deeper into the dark conspiratorial secrets of the boardinghouse and its mysterious visitors, Samuel becomes an unwitting conduit of information and intelligence about the President. The Hanging Boy unfolds as a memoir, mea culpa and coming of age story about a boy discovering the choice between right and wrong, good and evil, guilt and innocence and, ultimately, life and death.