In a departure from what I normally blog about, this is a review of a novel for Young Adults, STAND AND DELIVER, written by PHILIP CAVENEY.
Here’s some of what I say on the
podcast: ‘I have to credit a friend of mine called Phil Caveney… I went to a
writing group he was running and he took me aside. He said ‘I think… you should
become a writer. I think you’ve got talent’ … This was the first published
author I’d ever met… he was successful. I gave him a lot of respect because
he’d actually done it. He was a professional writer… what he was doing worked.’
Phil’s first
novel, ‘THE SINS OF RACHEL ELLIS’ was published in 1977 and he produced a
series of adult thrillers over the following decades. His first novel for
younger readers, ‘SEBASTIAN DARKE: PRINCE OF FOOLS’ was released in 2007. Since
then, he has concentrated on writing exclusively for younger readers. He also
writes under the pseudonym DANNY WESTON.
Danny's debut novel ‘THE PIPER’ won the Scottish Children's Book Award in 2016
and in 2018, ‘THE HAUNTING OF JESSOP RISE’ was shortlisted for the Scottish
Teenage Book prize and nominated for a Carnegie Medal.
STAND AND DELIVER is specifically pitched at Young
Adult readers.
Here’s the blurb for STAND AND DELIVER:
‘THE ADVENTURES OF
NED WATLING, AN ORPHAN AND HIGHWAYMAN’S ASSISTANT
Ned is like any other teenage boy: awkward, a little shy, and just trying to
find his place in the world. The only difference? Ned also happens to be the
assistant to the nation’s most feared highwayman, The Shadow . . .
Travel back to a time when highwaymen ruled the roads and follow Ned as he is
reluctantly swept up into a whirlwind of adventure. Whilst escaping the grasps
of the thief-takers, Ned soon finds himself stepping into his master’s shoes
and an unwanted life of crime.
The pressure is building with new friends and enemies galore when Ned stumbles
upon a long-infamous gem, The Bloodstone, which forces him to make an important
choice. Can he ultimately escape this new threat and finally free himself from
the grips of The Shadow?
A brand-new middle grade adventure from the author of Sebastian Darke, Philip
Caveney.’
And here’s my four star review:
‘An
exciting ride through the 18th Century underworld.
Essex, England c. 1735. 15-year-old Ned Watling only
wants to make an honest living as a carpenter. But fate intrudes and Ned ends
up as the assistant to Tom Gregory, aka ‘The Shadow,’ a notorious highwayman
from whom no traveller in Epping Forest is safe. Ned wants to escape his life
of crime but events keep forcing him deeper into the murky 18th
Century underworld. He soon has a renowned ‘thief-taker’ and his wilful
daughter on his trail. But when Ned inadvertently becomes the owner of ‘The
Bloodstone,’ a fabulous jewel reputed to bring death and disaster to those who
possess it, things take an even worse turn. Now he also has the sinister Lem
Turner after him, a fearsome villain who will stoop to any means to recover
this gem. An exciting, enjoyable romp with some nice touches of humour,
counterbalanced by plenty of gritty action.’
I did some browsing on related
matters, getting most of my information from Wikipedia.
The most famous historical
highwayman was DICK TURPIN.
Briefly, Richard (Dick) Turpin
was born at the Blue Bell Inn in Hempstead, Essex, in the east of England. We don’t know his actual birthdate but he was
baptised on 21 September 1705.
An artist’s depiction of the legendary Turpin (and the mythical Black Bess.)
Testimony from his trial in 1739 suggests that he
had a rudimentary education and that in about 1725, he married ELIZABETH
MILLINGTON. He worked as a butcher and innkeeper. Turpin may have started his
life of crime in the early 1730s as a receiver of deer poached by a gang of
thieves operating in the Royal Forest of Waltham.
By October 1734 this gang moved away from poaching,
instead breaking into peoples’ houses in Essex and London. Turpin was now an
actual participant in these raids. Some of them turned violent; in one a victim
was cut around the face ‘in a barbarous manner’. A contemporary report said: ‘Five
rogues entered the house of the Widow Shelley at Loughton in Essex, having
pistols &c. and threatened to murder the old lady, if she would not tell
them where her money lay… they threatened to lay her across the fire, if she
did not instantly tell them.’ In another incident, the gang brutally beat a 70-year-old
farmer and raped one of his maidservants.
In 1735 ‘The
London Gazette’ described Turpin as a ‘fresh coloured man, very much marked
with the small pox (in other words pock-marked,) about 26 years of age,
about five feet nine inches high… wears a blue grey coat and a natural wig.’
This gang was eventually broken up by the
authorities and Turpin turned to the crime he became most noted for – highway
robbery. In 1735 and 1737 (he seems to have dropped out of sight in 1736) he
robbed travellers and coaches in Essex (including in Epping Forest) and London.
Mostly he worked with two other highwayman, including MATTHEW KING (then, and
since, incorrectly identified as Tom King.) In April 1737 the authorities
cornered this trio in Whitechapel, London. During the resulting mêlée, King was
fatally wounded by gunfire; inconclusive reports suggest Turpin shot him by
accident.
Epping Forest
After this, Turpin hid out in Epping Forest, where
he was seen by THOMAS MORRIS, a servant of one of the Forest's Keepers. Turpin
shot and killed Morris when, armed with pistols, Morris attempted to capture him.
A reward of £200 (about £34,000 as of 2021) was offered for his capture and
Turpin fled to Yorkshire, in the north of England. Calling himself John Palmer,
he posed as a horse trader, and often hunted alongside local gentlemen.
Turpin stole several horses while operating under
the pseudonym of Palmer. In September 1738 he was arrested for horse theft. By
the wildest coincidence, a letter he wrote from his gaol in the city of York to
his brother-in-law fell into the hands of an old school mate, who recognised
the handwriting. This person travelled to York and identified Palmer as Turpin,
receiving the £200 reward.
On 7 April 1739, followed by his mourners,
Turpin was taken through York by open cart to the gallows and hung. Reports say
Turpin ‘behav'd himself with amazing assurance’, and ‘bow'd to the spectators
as he passed.’
So why did this seemingly unsavoury character involved
in the squalid underworld of the 18th Century – who was only briefly
involved in highway robbery – become a legend? The main impetus behind the
legend seems to be the story of a fabled ride from London to York that author
WILLIAM HARRISON AINSWORTH included in his 1834 novel ‘Rookwood.’
In the novel Turpin completes a 200 mile overnight
ride from London to York on his mare Black Bess, at the end of which the noble
steed expires. The only problem with this story is - it never happened!
Ainsworth may have been inspired by an episode recorded by DANIEL DEFOE in
1727. Defoe reports how, after committing a robbery in south-east England in
1676, WILLIAM NEVISON rode to York to establish an alibi. However, nobody
claimed Nevison rode about 200 miles in less than a day, which is
impossible. Nevertheless, Ainsworth's legend of the epic ride was repeated in later
works transforming Turpin into ‘a gentleman of the road [and] a protector of
the weak’, (for which there is no evidence.)
I also think Turpin may have become a legend by
dint of having such a memorable name!
Phil Caveney also tells me one of his characters
was inspired by JACK SHEPPARD (1702 – 1724.)
No time to look at Sheppard in detail. Very briefly, he wasn’t a
highwayman, but a thief and burglar operating in 1720s London. He became a notorious
public figure, wildly popular with the poorer classes, after escaping no less
than four times from prison. (His short stature and slight build helped him
escape.) STAND AND DELIVER also
features a daring attempt at an escape from custody.
JACK
SHEPPARD sketched in 1723
Arrested a
fifth time, Sheppard, like Turpin, ended his short life on the gallows.
Turpin (usually in romanticised form) has continued to be featured in novels, plays and film. Although there were silent films about him, I’m not aware of any Turpin biopic in the sound era, which is surprising; I would have thought Disney, who, in the 50s, were plundering British legend for biopics of Robin Hood and Rob Roy, would have found Turpin (the legendary figure not the real one) a good subject to tackle. (I’m not counting SID JAMES performance as Turpin in one of the ‘Carry On’ films!)
I vaguely remember a British TV series ‘Dick Turpin’ which ran from 1979 – 1982, with RICHARD O’SULLIVAN.
Jack Sheppard went on to inspire the character of MaCHEATH, in JOHN GAY’s ‘The Beggar’s Opera’ (1728.) FRANK and JESSE JAMES must have been admirers as they wrote letters to the Kansas City Star signed ‘Jack Sheppard.’
TOMMY STEELE
played him in the 1969 film ‘Where’s Jack?’
BTW, there are recorded instances of 18th Century highwaymen actually calling ‘Stand and Deliver’!
Find STAND AND DELIVER here: https://www.amazon.com/Stand-Deliver-Philip-Cavaney-ebook/dp/B0BJQ4DPZC/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?crid=34E8SP60W75K1&keywords=stand+and+deliver+philip+caveney&qid=1683688883&s=books&sprefix=stand+and+deliver+philip+caveney%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C221&sr=1-1-fkmr0