Mad Boy - Paperback

by Nick Arvin (Author)

WINNER

Colorado Book Award

Young Henry Phipps has set out to realize his mother's dying wish: to be buried at sea, surrounded by her remaining family. Not an easy task considering Henry's ne'er-do-well father is in debtor's prison and his earnest older brother is busy fighting the redcoats on the battlefields of Maryland. But Henry's stubborn determination knows no bounds. As he dodges the cannon fire of clashing armies and picks among the ruins of a burning capital, he encounters a cast of vivid characters that includes looters, British defectors, renegade slaves, a pregnant woman fleeing her corrupt father, scoundrels and rogues of all types.

At once an antic adventure and a brilliantly imagined work of historical fiction set during America's "forgotten war" of 1812, Mad Boy entertains with its masterful storytelling and its poignant tale of a young man burdened by an outsized undertaking.

"The colorful characters make this account of the War of 1812 a rollicking page-turner." Publishers Weekly

"Mad Boy is a great success, a mini-epic in just 238 pages." The Denver Post

"With its cast of deserters and turncoats, clowns, scoundrels, Mad Boy is a bloody, rollicking picaresque." Stewart O'Nan, author of A Prayer for the Dying

"Arvin's unusual tale brings warmth to the otherwise horrific drama of wartime." Booklist

Author Biography

Nick Arvin's first novel, Articles of War, was named one of the best books of the year by Esquire, Detroit Free Press, Rocky Mountain News, and The Independent. It won the Rosenthal Foundation Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Boyd Award, and was selected for the One Book, One Denver reading program. His second novel, The Reconstructionist, was described as "thrilling and soulful" by David Wroblewski and was selected by Amazon as a Best Book of the Month. Arvin's fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and numerous other periodicals. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop. He lives in Denver.