The Gallows Pole

Myers (Turning Blue) dazzles with his outstanding novelization of 18th-century crime and powerful personalities. In the late 1760s in Yorkshire, David Hartley recruits a crew of men facing economic hardship and the looming threat of industrialization into a complicated coin forgery scheme. They form the Cragg Vale Coiners and risk execution to clip coins and melt the shavings into new ones, dubbing their leader King as their success grows. Imperious exciseman William Deighton comes to the area to root out the forgers, but he is stymied by the loyalty of the locals to King Hartley. When David sexually humiliates James Broadbent, a member of his inner circle, the latter decides to turn in his fellow criminals for monetary reward. As the lawmen close on the Hartley family and James gets antsy about delayed payment, everyone resorts to drastic choices with rippling consequences. Myers interjects David’s dialect-filled confessions from his jail cell between the action to form a striking portrait of the mastermind’s fractured emotional state, including his conviction that he has visions of dancing stag-men on the moors. Myers’s exquisite prose sizzles with tension and the plot unfolds at a perfect pace. Readers will be mesmerized by this stunning page-turner of bleak violence, crisp historical detail, and vibrant characters. [em](Oct.) [/em]