Hold Fast
A Boy's Life Aloft
by By Marshall Highet and Bird Jones
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Pub Date Mar 01 2019 | Archive Date Mar 08 2019
Rowman & Littlefield | Globe Pequot
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Description
It is 1761 off the coast of Italy, and 13-year-old Joseph Carlos and his cousin have just been kidnapped by the British Navy and impressed into service on the Deptford, a British man-of-war. Just the day before the two boys were happily sailing with their uncle on a routine merchant passage, dreaming of owning their own ship one day and returning home to the warmth and safety of their family. What was supposed to be a “punishment” for a childish misadventure turns into a fight for survival on foreign seas. The boys have to rely on each other as they struggle with a new world of unfathomable rules and codes, near-death floggings, lethal storms, and intrigue. Their endurance depends not only on their own bravery and stamina but on how fast they can learn English. For the next two years the ship becomes their prison, their classroom, and their home. Eventually, Joseph Carlos has to make a choice that shapes what kind of person he becomes. Hold Fast is a young adult, historical novel in the vein of Kidnapped. Based on a true story, it combines brutal storytelling and a poignant sense of humor while tracing the route of the Deptford across the Atlantic Ocean. This book follows the lives of two Italian boys, but it also tells the story of Harrison, the Sea Watch, and the discovery of longitude.
Marshall Highet is a professor and writer. Her YA sci-fi novel Spare Parts was published in 2014. Spare Parts also has an educational bent and Marshall has worked in tandem with middle school, high school, and college educators to create a syllabus that pairs with the book. She also maintains a social media presence to keep up with her readers. She lives in Pittsburgh with her family and two neurotic rescue dogs. Bird Stasz Jones is Professor Emerita at Elon University with over 30 years working with teachers and young people in the United States and abroad. This is her family story and is based in historical fact (with fiction filling in the gaps). She lives in Vermont and Rhode Island.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781493039432 |
| PRICE | $20.00 (USD) |
Links
Featured Reviews
Kayla R, Reviewer
This book is much like the ocean on which it takes place. It was at times breathtaking, exciting, unpredictable, and devastating.
Hold Fast is a book based on the true experiences of cousins Joseph Carlo and Suchet, who after spending a reckless night away from the safety of there home, Villa Franca, are sent to work on the families boat in the hopes that they would learn to be more responsible. This lesson however turns into a fight for survival when the boys get taken away and conscripted into the Royal Navy. They must let go of their lives as princelings of the Villa and heirs of the family business and adjust to life as part of the crew, who all speak a different language than they do.
This book broke my heart in the way only a well written book can do. I became so attached to these boys and what was happening to them during this journey. I was proud of their accomplishments, worried as they went through challenges, and saddened by each new downfall. The writers do a wonderful job of reminding the reader that these characters are just young boys. It is so easy to start drifting and thinking of them as older, but they are only 13 and 12 when they are taken, and only age about a year through the coarse of a book. It makes the whole experience more tender and sensitive by narrating through the innocence of youth.
I loved the glimpses of life at sea. The honest look at the good and terrible realities of living on a boat for weeks or months at a time. I wish there was more of it. The time jumping in Hold Fast is a little jarring. About 40 percent of the book is spent on one night in a dangerous part of town and a few days at sea with their uncle, while the rest of the book is left to pack in over a year. I would like to have read more about what happened at sea while they were part of the Royal Navy. Even just more of what they thought about the situation. I simply wanted more time with these characters that I had come to love.
To summarize, I think the book is beautifully written, the characters well developed and interesting, and the story engaging. It is sure to linger with me for a long time.
Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review this book. I will defiantly be looking forward to getting the finished copy.
Myron B, Librarian
Italian cousins Joseph Carlo and Suchet attempts to alleviate boredom somehow lead them to serve in the British Navy. While there they learn how brutal life on the seas really is. As they face the danger of the seas they have decide what type of men they will become. This is a historical biography based on the time Joseph Carlo Mauran -- who commanded the vessel Spitfire during the Revolutionary War -- served the British Navy in his early teens. This is a very male heavy novel with only one female character, his cousin Madalena in the entire novel with most of the other characters being sailors. Hold Fast straddles the line between middle grade and young adult fiction, so while it doesn't shy away from encounters with the death, destruction, and disease sailors encounter it does shy away from the bawdier aspects of a sailor's life, meaning while there's some salty language there's no real sexual innuendo. Highet does an excellent job depicting the dangers of life in the British Navy. This book is recommended for collections that are looking for historical fiction which is a good transition between middle grade and young adult fiction.
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