MY REVIEW:
The Charlatan’s Boy is a boisterous fantasy with bigger than life characters and plot. The tale takes place on the island of Corenwald that resembles a combination old south/old west setting rather than the usual medieval background of most fantasies. An abundance of humorous situations combined with Grady’s imaginative use of language make The Charlatan’s Boy a perfect read aloud story. Readers will empathize with Grady as he longs for a real home and family and to be loved. His desire for integrity and uneasiness with the lies Floyd forces him to tell are an example for each of us.
Each chapter takes Grady and Floyd through a new escapade filled with one fiasco after another. As Grady seeks the answers about who he really is, the reader may also discover something about himself. Plenty of unexpected twists and a surprise ending make this a story worth reading. The Charlatan’s Boy would make a wonderful Christmas gift for the young people in your life.
This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
“I only know one man who might be able to tell me where I come from, and that man is a liar and a fraud.”
As far back as he can remember, the orphan Grady has tramped from village to village in the company of a huckster named Floyd. With his adolescent accomplice, Floyd perpetrates a variety of hoaxes and flimflams on the good citizens of the Corenwald frontier, such as the Ugliest Boy in the World act.
It’s a hard way to make a living, made harder by the memory of fatter times when audiences thronged to see young Grady perform as “The Wild Man of the Feechiefen Swamp.” But what can they do? Nobody believes in feechies anymore.
When Floyd stages an elaborate plot to revive Corenwalders’ belief in the mythical swamp-dwellers known as the feechiefolk, he overshoots the mark. Floyd’s Great Feechie Scare becomes widespread panic. Eager audiences become angry mobs, and in the ensuing chaos, the Charlatan’s Boy discovers the truth that has evaded him all his life—and will change his path forever.
Download and read the first two chapters of The Charlatan’s Boy by Jonathan Rogers.
To learn more about Jonathan and his books check out his blog.
Praise for Jonathan Rogers
“The unusual settings and characters keep the surprises coming, while Rogers’s lovely descriptions and distinctive voice keep the pages turning. Faith fiction readers of all ages should enjoy this…”
—Publishers Weekly
“Jonathan Rogers knows how to tell a story. He’ll take you to fantastic lands that somehow still feel close to home and keep you happily guessing until the end. His fantasy tales ring of folklore and seem to spring up out of history like old willows in an earthy bog. Dr. Rogers never fails to serve up uncanny adventures that, like some impossibly nutritious brownies, are ridiculously tasty and deeply fulfilling.”
—Wayne Thomas Batson, best-selling author of The Door Within Trilogy
“Jonathan Rogers has created a new kind of story—part fantasy, part southern fiction. It’s sad and funny and heartwarming. Imagine a southern version of a C. S. Lewis story or a Christian version of a Mark Twain tale. Imagine a world where dragons are alligators, the American South is an island kingdom of cowboys and swamp dwellers, and ugliness, it turns out, is profoundly beautiful. Jonathan Rogers, a Georgia boy with a PhD, a strong faith, and a healthy imagination, gives us a timeless story no one else could have written. I loved it.”
—Andrew Peterson, author of The Wingfeather Saga
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jonathan Rogers grew up in Georgia, where he spent many happy hours in the swamps and riverbottoms on which the wild places of The Charlatan’s Boy are based. He received his undergraduate degree from Furman University in South Carolina and holds a Ph.D. in seventeenth-century English literature from Vanderbilt University. He lives with his family in Nashville, Tennessee.
