The French Revolution is vividly brought to life in a brilliant retelling of the classic story that has captured the imagination of readers since the 1850s.

In Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities," Sydney Carton is an almost ancillary character. Dickens' novel tells us the stories of Charles Darnay, Lucie Manette, and Alexandre Manette. Carton disappears from the novel for eleven chapters and several years, reappearing without warning to bring the novel to its chilling and heartbreaking end. Yet Dickens is silent about the circumstances that transformed Carton from a promising youth to an embittered alcoholic and finally to the man who makes the ultimate sacrifice for love. "A Far Better Rest" imagines his missing personal history and makes him the center of this tragic tale.

Born in England of a wealthy, unloving father and a French mother, Sydney is sent to study in Paris, where he meets Charles Darnay and the other students--Robespierre and Camille Desmoulins among them--who will have enormous influence on his life and alter the course of French history. Years later, when Sydney, disinherited, is living a lonely and purposeless existence in London, Charles reenters his life. The beauty and kindness of Charles's wife, Lucie Manette, affects Sydney so deeply that he secretly devotes his life to her happiness.

At last abandoning London for Paris, Sydney becomes a witness to the formation of the French Republic at the end of the eighteenth century and also to one of the most turbulent periods in history. "A Far Better Rest" is a novel of passion, identity, and history that stands fully in its own right.

Charles-Henri Sanson has good looks, a fine education, and plenty of money: everything, in fact, that a stylish young Parisian could ask for. He also has an infamous family name-and he's trapped in a hideous job that no one wants.

The last thing Charles ever wanted to be was a hangman. But he's the eldest son of Paris's most dreaded public official, and in the 1750s, after centuries of superstition, people like him are outcasts. He knows that the executioner's son must become an executioner himself or starve, for all doors are closed to him; although he loathes the role and would much rather study medicine, society's fears and prejudices will never let him be anything else. And when disaster strikes, family duty demands that Charles take his father's place much sooner than he had ever imagined.

Miles outside Paris, high-spirited Francois de La Barre is the carefree teenager who Charles would like to have been, instead of the somber public servant, bound by the Sansons' motto of duty and honor, who carries out brutal justice in the king's name. Francois proves, though, in the elegant, treacherous world of prerevolutionary France, to have a dangerous gift for making enemies . . . and when at last their paths converge, in this true story of destiny and conflicting loyalties, Charles must make a horrifying choice.

"Alleyn's exhaustive research pays off handsomely in well-drawn characters and colorful historical context. In particular, her female characters are refreshing in their range and willingness to defy stereotypes. A sequel would be welcome to this deftly imagined tale of the years before the French Revolution. A well-researched, robust tale featuring an endearing executioner." --"Kirkus Reviews"

(Starred Review) "Charles's personal crisis and clashing loyalties evoke Greek tragedy, and speak to the issues that will resonate with readers." --"Publishers Weekly""

Joan Tower's two big brothers didn't want a baby sister. So they called her Jo and never admitted that she was a girl.

Even though the neighbors disapprove, Jo is happier doing boys' jobs. A properly-brought-up young girl in a New England Puritan village of 1705 would never know all the useful skills, like fishing and swimming, that Jo learns from Dan and Sam. When it comes to doing ordinary household tasks, though, she believes she is hopeless. She's not much good at cooking or knitting, and spinning thread is simply beyond her--a fact which her disapproving, fault-finding aunt and cousin never fail to point out.

But when Indians attack their little village of Hatfield and carry off many captives, including Jo's mother, Jo and her brothers must make their way alone to Westfield to find shelter with their grandfather. In Westfield, however, more bad news awaits them, and Jo will find her own resources and courage sorely tested.

"A plot that remains reasonable as well as exciting. For younger girls in this age group, a treat instead of the usual treatment."
--Kirkus Reviews (1965)

Susanna never wanted to leave the comfort and security of old England, but her strict Puritan father was determined to leave England for the Massachusetts Bay Colony, where he and his family could worship God as they pleased. Susanna had only one keepsake to bring to the wilderness of the New England: her silver candlestick. But when a gypsy foretold, "The light will show you the way," her candlestick seemed very special indeed.

Susanna carries her candlestick through a long, hard journey filled with danger and excitement in a strange, wild land. She meets kindness and cruelty, understanding and prejudice, until at last she finds in the gypsy's words an unexpected meaning.

Lillie V. Albrecht, the author of many historical books for young readers, has written a story that is both enthralling and authentic in its portrayal of life in the New England of 1663. Her book is an excellent supplement for study of the very early colonial period, but most youngsters will read it for sheer pleasure.

Children's historical fiction, ages 9-12.

If you should visit the Edwin Smith Historical Museum at the Athenaeum in Westfield, Massachusetts, you might meet Deborah, a very special doll.

Her story, which she'll share with the other antique dolls every night at midnight, that magical hour when the dolls wake up, began three hundred years ago. Deborah, together with generations of girls who loved her, saw--and sometimes took part in--many scenes from American history in her small New England town.

Deborah can remember the terrible Indian massacre at Deerfield in 1704, and the old Puritan settlement of Westfield where little Mindwell played with her. She remembers Mercy Ann, who was so frightened of the Hessians during the Revolutionary War. She can even tell an exciting story about how Deborah herself, and her little mother Martha, saved some runaway slaves in the Underground Railroad.

"Deborah Remembers" was based on many real local events and personalities from New England history. Deborah's long, rich, often poignant story, which first delighted young readers in the 1950s and 60s, was created by Westfield historian Lillie V. Albrecht. The tale now returns, with annotations by Mrs. Albrecht's granddaughter, author Susanne Alleyn, to enthrall a whole new generation of readers. Deborah will captivate you and touch your heart.

"A doll's eye view of American history might be the subtitle of this delightful book. . . . Any little girl who ever loved a doll will love Deborah's remembrances." --The Chicago Tribune (1959) "A painless way of surveying American history, this story, with its sentimental portrayal of a rag doll who longs to be hold in the arms of a little mother, will have an immediate appeal to any but the most callous little girl. Well written, with a rich background of New England America in all its graceful simplicity." --Kirkus Reviews (1959)

Tabby Copley can't understand why, in the fall of 1773, her father would suddenly want to move their whole family from their comfortable house in a Massachusetts village to a lonely corn mill in the country, where the nearest neighbors are a mile away. But on the first night in their new home, Father shows Tabby and her brother, Dan, the secret of the mill: Below the millstones, in a hidden cellar, is a gunshop where Father and Dan will be making muskets for the Minute Men.

The secret of the gunshop has to be kept at all costs-especially from Tory spies, loyal to the king, and there are plenty of those around during the years just before the American Revolution. The question is-who are they?

Everyone suspects everyone else and sometimes the wrong people are caught and punished by angry patriots. And when a wealthy English family, suspected to be loyalist spies, builds a handsome country house near the mill, Tabby is trapped between patriotism and her friendship with the new neighbors. Can she remain friends with Alice and Jack and still keep the crucial secret of the grist mill?

"By making friends with Tories living nearby, Tabitha Copley caused a crisis in her own family and great concern in the town. This mystery of pre-Revolutionary days has a well-developed plot, good characterization, and gives an authentic picture of divided loyalties in a time of crisis."
--Library Journal (1962)

"More a portrait of the temper of the times and the way of life in rural New England than a mystery as the title may imply, this reveals an unusual spirit of friendship that prevails even in the face of divergent political feelings. Good supplementary reading for fifth and sixth graders studying this era."
--Kirkus Reviews (1962)

Children's historical fiction, ages 9-12.

When Hannah Atwater's father goes marching off with the Minute Men in the spring of 1775, his last words to her are, "Remember, little daughter, when I come home, you're going to read the Bible to me."

As if poor Hannah doesn't have enough to worry about, including war, the danger of smallpox, and storing enough food and firewood to last the Atwater family through the harsh New England winters, there's also school. She just can't manage to learn to read under the severe gaze of Master Hawkes, who whips naughty pupils at the least provocation.

But worst of all are the rumors that soon arise about the terrifying Hessians, soldiers hired by the king of England to fight the American patriot army. The Hessians, the older children tell her, are eight feet tall, have two sets of teeth, eat boys and girls for dinner, and are coming to find her. And when a procession of Hessian prisoners passes through their own village, Hannah's greatest fear seems to be coming true--or does it?

"Little Hannah in this story will appeal to modern nine and ten-year-olds as much as a little girl of today, although she was young when the Minute Men were called to fight the Redcoats and George Washington was struggling to hold his own against the British. . . . Well told, pleasantly illustrated and easy to read, this gives a genuine picture of life in the hard years, 1775-1777, a fine approach to history." --The New York Herald-Tribune (1958)

"An unusual insight into the mentality of a little girl and an unoppressive historical context recommend this tender story of a child's role in a crucial period of American history." --Kirkus Reviews (1958)