Billy Creekmore has a pretty low life. He believes his mother died and his father ran away because of his birth. His nurse admitted him to an orphan boarding house, but he is forced to work on his “masters” land all day long. Fortunately he has a couple of very good friends. One day, actually, the day he was planning on running away, his long lost uncle came to the orphanage to take him home. Billy thought that all his problems were over. But, unbeknownst to him, they were just starting. With blood thirsty mine owners and lying, cheating circus managers, Billy has to learn what his true identity is, and if he wants to accept it or not.
Tracey Porter does a wonderful job bringing her readers into the past with believable characters and a fitting vocabulary. Even though this book was a very entertaining read, it had a lot of sad happenings and in the end I didn’t feel that her character had solved all his problems. As a writer, I was very interested to know that Tracey named all of her boy characters, besides Billy, after boys that had died working in coal mines. I would describe this book as a “revised version” of Oliver Twist.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 7
Reviewer Age: 15
Reviewer City, State and Country: , Idaho USA
