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The Night I Freed John Brown

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"The Night I Freed John Brown" provokes feelings and stimulates the intellect to dig deeper to discover what is real and what has come from the inspired mind of the author. John Michael Cummings' debut novel is alive with history and filled with the adventuresome spirit and imagination of an adolescent boy.

Thirteen year old Josh Connors is ashamed of his rundown house, his shabby clothes, his family and especially his bully of a father. You feel the shame and throughout the book you search for that one person who will save Josh from his tortured life.

By the end of the story, Josh discovers a certain strength and greatness in the very people he's judged inferior, including himself.

I recommend this exciting new novel for young readers.

Thirteen-year-old Josh feels like he lives his life in the shadows. On one side of his rundown house towers the huge church and on the other side sits the fancy, five-story historical residence. His angry father allows the yard to be overgrown in order to hide their house and family from the thousands of tourists who visit Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, every year to learn about the famous John Brown and his attempts to free the slaves. Josh's dad doesn't like tourists --- or much of anything.

Then a new park employee moves into the fancy historical house next door with his three sons. Luke, the youngest, is 13, and he and Josh instantly become friends. Josh feels drawn to the neighbor's place, with their beautiful house and glitzy belongings, and, most especially, to the family itself. Luke's father isn't angry all the time and doesn't yell or push his sons around, and Luke's brothers don't get in trouble with the park rangers for messing with the tourists. They even read Shakespeare, practice for the annual John Brown play, and seem to enjoy spending time together. Even better is that they invite Josh to join them. At the neighbor's house, Josh feels an acceptance, an appreciation for himself that he doesn't experience at home. He can't help but be jealous of their seemingly perfect lives.

Back at home, a storm that has been threatening to burst for years is brewing. The family used to go to church and visit Josh's grandparents in their caretaker's home for the Catholic retreat. But now his father wants nothing to do with the church or with the house he grew up in, and no one will tell Josh anything. Then one night, all of the pent-up angry feelings explode, and someone gets hurt. Things aren't as they seem, and Josh is ready for some answers.

John Michael Cummings has had over 75 short stories published in various magazines, but this is his first novel --- and it's amazing. Cummings has a special talent for description, painting vividly clear pictures with his animated words ("Step after creaky step we went up, with Jerry in the lead, the darkness over us like a low ceiling we were always about to bump our heads into."). He brings to life a story where things are not always as they seem, with burning emotions begging to be freed and lonely souls desperate for healing.

THE NIGHT I FREED JOHN BROWN is a historically rich story with colorful characters and a family secret that will draw readers in and keep the pages turning.

--- Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman, author of FINDING MY LIGHT and THE BLACK POND

"The Night I Freed John Brown" is a wonderfully written book by John Cummings. The storyline just seems to flow along just like the river that flows by Harpers Ferry. The storyline grabs your attention and you want to hurry up to finish it to see how the story ends. This is an excellent fast read for our young readers. I hope Mr. Cummings will do a sequel to his debut novel!

Though this book is nominally for "young adults," it's a rip-roaring good story that will appeal to almost anyone who was ever a boy or had a father.

The central character is Josh, a 13-year-old boy growing up in a poor family in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Both literally and figuratively, Josh and his family live in the shadow of the church next door, of their more affluent neighbors, and of the legendary John Brown, the 19th-century abolitionist whose statue glares at their house from across the street.

For an adult reader such as myself, the book awakens long-sleeping memories of the world as seen in childhood: small and intimate, yet imbued with cosmic portent and urgency. Cummings's greatest achievement as a writer is to re-inhabit this world and take his readers along with him. He tells the story from Josh's point of view, with never a false note, never an adult voice intruding into the narrative, never a sly wink at the reader.

The truth and sincerity of the writing are joined by its remarkable insight into the relationship between boys and their fathers. The mystery of John Brown, of the abandoned house, of the search for "cowmint" - all those are mere surrogates for the real mystery Josh must solve. It's a mystery that every boy must confront as he grows up: the mystery of his own father. First made an object of uncritical hero-worship, then seen as a foolish bully, and at last accepted as a fully-realized human being with virtues, flaws, courage, and fears, Josh's father - like the reader's - is finally understood.

Kids will love it because it tells a true and exciting story that's really about *them*. Adults will love it for different reasons, as a time-warp trip back into their own past.

This wonderfully written story is centered on the life of a 13-year-old boy growing up in Harpers Ferry, a tourist town famous for the abolitionist John Brown's raid in 1859. Young Josh Connors is haunted by the violent image of John Brown--it reminds him of his own angry, controlling father. And Josh cannot escape John Brown, since he lives directly across the street from the John Brown Wax Museum, where a large, frightening-looking wax tableaux of the crusader stands.

With the arrival of new neighbors, the Richmonds, Josh's sheltered and constrained life takes an unexpected turn. The Richmonds are completely different from his own provincial family; they are fun and open-minded, with a passion for history and theater. When Josh shares with them his belief in cowmint, a mythical plant that his father made up and what has become over the years a lost family symbol of faith in the impossible, he is adopted into a new and exciting world. Doubling the magic of his new friendship with this Shakespeare-loving family is that their house next door is a haunting duplicate of his father's childhood house, a "farmer's Victorian" that stands deserted upriver from town--deserted but strangely intact, awaiting some sort of reckoning.

In a charming mystery that takes us from the historic town, to a play about John Brown, and finally to where it all began for Josh's father--the abandoned family home upriver--THE NIGHT I FREED JOHN BROWN is a story of lost faith regained. There are unlikely heroes, including a small mint plant that, like faith, just won't die.

This is simply a wonderful, vibrantly written novel. I wholeheartedly recommend it!

I would highly recommend John Michael Cummings' novel, The Night I Freed John Brown, as a must-read for those hard- to- please 9-15 year old readers. As a literacy coach in a Core Knowledge school in the impoverished East New York school district in NYC, I brought the novel in for our sixth graders to connect the history, English, and Art curriculums. The kids ate it up!
Mr. Cummings uses figurative language to build and intertwine layers of the past and present. The backdrop of the story is Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, where the infamous raid led by John Brown, precipitating the Civil War, took place well over a century ago. Mr. Cummings has a way with figurative language that lured us into the story. It only took Chapter 1 to "capture" most of the students. Students who rarely show an interest in literature were rushing to the next chapter. And then the next...
We learn that young Josh, the main character in this autobiographical novel, has a number of issues with family members. As the story unravels we find that Josh's dad just doesn't relate to him, he is always angry, and he doesn't acknowledge Josh or Josh's interests. Josh views his dad as kind of a loser, too. It's his dad's fault that their family has to live in the middle of this tourist town in an embarrassingly run down house. His brothers and cousin are embarrassing. His mom just avoids conflict and goes along with his dad. Josh does not understand why his father acts the way he does. This leaves Josh feeling detached, resentful and confused, (as are most teenagers).
Josh finds solace in the company of a new family in town, the Richmonds. The Richmond home becomes a refuge as Josh and the Luke Richmond become fast friends. Josh's dad, though, starts to put limitations on Josh's interaction with the Richmond family. All the different personalities, family history, and a number of events converge as anticipation for the climax of the story builds.
I was impressed that this legitimate novel, where the past and present collide piqued the interest of my usually disinterested students. That is very powerful. The novel precipitated rich discussion of historical events, family conflict, and teenage angst. The students also fervently produced related writing and artwork.
Most importantly, this novel hooked a number of reluctant readers. Thank you, Mr. Cummings.

Cummings' novel will appeal both to its young adult audience and those parents, teachers, and librarians looking for the next great story for adolescents.

We follow Josh and his embittered father Bill in the wonderfully-rendered town of Harpers Ferry. The characters are delightful and believable, the prose is both easy to read and beautifully detailed, and the climax is completely satisfying and credible. There are no cop-outs, no underdeveloped moments, and no flabby text, despite the novel's deliberate pace.

This is a fantastic piece of YA fiction and I cannot recommend it enough.

Review of The Night I Freed John Brown, by John Michael Cummings.

by Gabriel Welsch, originally published in Mid-American Review v. 28, n. 2

After publishing nearly 100 stories in prestigious print journals and online magazines, John Michael Cummings has "debuted" with his novel, The Night I Freed John Brown, a brisk and heartfelt coming-of-age story of a misfit growing up with more than the usual burdens of living in a tourist trap.

Set in Harper's Ferry, Virginia, home to John Brown and an epicenter for Civil War era merchandising and tourism, the novel builds toward a chaos that reminded me of what might happen if George Saunders were to play the life-in-a-theme-park theme straight.

The story centers on two boys growing up on opposite sides of the experience. Luke is a historian's son, living in the stately antique home next door to where Josh and his family's run-down limestone house and overgrown yard. Josh's family, and particularly his acerbic and antisocial father, put down roots long before Brown the folk hero became Brown the Person of Historical Significance.

Josh's father loathes the tourists, rages about being watched all the time, and none-too-subtly works to hide himself, his home, and his family from the otherwise scrubbed and period-perfect surroundings. Josh's mother is long-suffering, though possessed of a backbone that while hinted at, comes to little in the story. Josh's parents fight obliquely, and Cummings captures what it is like to overhear cryptic bits of conversations that children know started before they were born.

Those conversations have to do with the father's lapsed and inconsistent Catholicism, his struggle and ire toward the church and its current, progressive director, "Father `Ron,'" and the fate and upkeep of a family house, well away from town but visible out by the tracks, that is an exact replica of the showpiece home next door but is abandoned by the river, haunted only by dope smoking local teens and the odd bum.

To add to Josh's struggles, he has a pair of ne'er-do-wells for brothers: "Seeing my brothers out in the town was like looking in the mirror at the worst time. We were not clean-cut, cute boys like the tourist kids, or like Luke and his brothers for that matter. Jerry had a small, red, scrunched-up face that looked to be in pain all the time. Robbie had a chipped front tooth; old Sharky, they called him at school. And thanks to Dad giving us crew cuts every month with a Sears home barber kit, we looked like cue balls."

Class warfare, angry Catholic family, history, severe appearance deficits, what more could a young boy want? Josh hates that his father's anti-social paranoia makes the family avoid tourists and bans all guests from being inside the home. But as the story progresses, and the father shows glimpses of a friendlier, happier man he might once have been, Josh wants to know more. In a pivotal scene in the book, his father tells a story about what is essentially a lucky plant that grows among the weeds of their yard, cowmint. A plant not listed in any field guides, cowmint is a low grower, but one which because Josh's father once convinced someone it is lucky, now appears to have those same qualities for Josh.

While working to unravel the mystery of his father, things go wrong for Josh as he fraternizes with Luke, and his learned and suave historian father, irritating his dad all the more. When Josh attends and participates in a play about John Brown, one his father had forbid him being part of, the punishment is draconian, and Josh, full of rage and rebellion, sets in motion a chain of events that lead to the chaos of the novel's end.

Cummings is able to keep a sense of suspense thrumming through the book, as well as several simultaneous plots running and clear. While this is a book billed as one "for young adult readers," the story is mature, sad, affecting, and challenging. The characters' flaws make them frustrating, at times tragic, and Cummings resists the temptation to let them off the hook or to let them veer too far from who they are.

Admittedly, sometimes there is writing like this, "In that second, I caught sight of myself in the only crappy little mirror in our house, and my face was nothing any mirror should ever show." The whole catching conscience in a reflection is something that, because it is a book for young readers, I am inclined at first to forgive. But then, why should young readers not expect a solid effort, especially when so many other parts of this story are so well done and so compelling?

It's a small quibble to have with a book wherein a skilled writer holds several plots aloft at once, keeping our interest in what will happen. The end wraps pretty neatly, and maybe should, for its audience, but then details of the story sing, the father character lingers long afterward, and it is easy to stay with these characters long afterward, wondering at the ways the events of that summer played on in their lives.

The Night I Freed John Brown is a very fine read that I would recommend to adolescents and adults alike. My two children enjoyed the storyline thoroughly and anxiously await the author's next great work. Keep up the good work!

BOOK REVIEW: 'The Night I Freed John Brown': An Exciting, Fun Book for Young Readers -- And Their Parents

By David M. Kinchen
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It's always a pleasure to come across books I can recommend for young readers. I can do so without reservation for "The Night I Freed John Brown" (Philomel, 276 pages, $17.99) by West Virginia native John Michael Cummings.

Now a resident of Brooklyn, NY, his novel -- expanded from a novella called 'The House of My Father' -- features a large and well-drawn cast of Harpers Ferry, WV residents -- especially Josh Connors, his new friend Luke Richmond, Josh's "mean" dad Bill Connors and his long-suffering mom Katie. It is the kind of youth novel adults can enjoy as much as their teenage children. Maybe even more, as they reflect on what a horrendous age 13 -- the age of Josh and Luke -- was for them!

Harpers Ferry is an unusual town, since much of its territory is included in the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, creating a kind of town vs. gown split that's reminiscent of a college town. This naturally brought to mind one of my all-time favorite movies, "Breaking Away," written by Steve Tesich (1942-1996), based on his experiences as a student at Indiana University in Bloomington. The 1979 film, directed by Peter Yates, starred Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Parkersburg, WV native Paul Dooley and Barbara Barrie and garnered an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Tesich's original screenplay about a town kid who organized a team to compete in IU's Little 500 bike race.

Like Dave, played by Dennis Christopher in "Breaking Away," Josh is drawn to the sophisticated Richmond family who live next door in a spotless house. Niles Richmond is a divorced dad who works for the Park Service as a historian and to Josh he's everything Bill Connors is not. Richmond is kind, loves music and plays and enlists Josh to portray one of John Brown's sons in a play in which Niles Richmond is John Brown. Naturally, Bill Connors opposes his son's participation in the play, so Josh does it without telling his mom and dad.

There are elements of a ghost story in "The Night I Freed John Brown," with the opening of the novel taking place in the house where Bill Connors grew up. The five-story house was a Roman Catholic retreat house, but it's now vacant, except for occasional visits by transients -- and Josh and Luke.

When Bill learns that Josh and Luke have visited the house, he has one of his frequent tantrums, prompting the inquisitive Josh to probe the matter even more. Josh would make a great investigative reporter -- or writer -- since Cummings said much of the novel is based on his experiences growing up in Harpers Ferry in the 1970s.

The novel also is educational, in a non-invasive way, since it explains to history-deprived young people -- and their parents -- the connection between radical abolitionist John Brown and the slave revolt he planned in 1859 in the federal armory town of Harpers Ferry, VA, at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers.

The "everything is illuminated" ending of "The Night I Freed John Brown" --don't worry, I'm not going to give it away -- provides a satisfactory resolution of Josh's concerns that he's the child Katie wanted, not Bill. Yes, Josh is the youngest of three children and his two brothers, Jerry and Robbie, are merciless teasers of Josh.
The novel is available at Amazon.com, Cummings says. It's one of the best novels I've read in a long time and, as I noted, it's not just for young people. Philomel Books is a division of the Penguin Group, an outstanding major publisher. Calling all librarians out there: Buy this book! You might have to buy multiple copies.

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