Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 10/12/2021
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 10/12/2021 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
I got this softcover at Barnes and Noble, attracted by the cover-art - and the idea of a re-imagining of Washington Irving's classic tale of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow. (I had family living in the Sleepy Hollow NY area for years and was able to visit often, including stops at the Old Dutch Church, Irving's grave, and the site of the famous bridge. Well worth the trip!)
The novel is set some 30 years after the events of Irving's story, and is told from the viewpoint of 14-year-old Ben, grandchild of Brom "Bones" Van Brunt. Ben likes to run wild through the forests, adores Brom, and has a somewhat tempestuous relationship with grandmother Katrina - who wants Ben to behave like the young lady she believes Ben to be, while Ben has always felt more like a boy...
Ben's problems take a different turn when he and a friend find the headless body of another village child in the woods. How much of the old legend is true, and do the whispers that Ben sometimes hears come from friend or foe? And will anyone discover what actually became of the schoolmaster Ichabod Crane, who disappeared after Brom's prank?
All these things come together as the story advances, with some increasingly unsettling revelations about the events of the past and the ongoing tragedies in the community. There are some very creepy scenes - not least those that involve the subsequent victims, whose bodies are not only headless but decompose at an accelerated rate. There are threats from human foes as well, including accusations of witchcraft and an attempted assault on Ben that requires an extreme act of self defense. So... not a mellow fireside ghost story at all, really.
Interestingly for the time, Ben's gender-identity - while troublesome to some in the village - never bothers his grandfather, and over the course of the story (which has a decade-later epilogue) he's accepted as "Ben" by everyone. But the nature of the Horseman, and the family curse, will direct Ben's fate.
The novel is set some 30 years after the events of Irving's story, and is told from the viewpoint of 14-year-old Ben, grandchild of Brom "Bones" Van Brunt. Ben likes to run wild through the forests, adores Brom, and has a somewhat tempestuous relationship with grandmother Katrina - who wants Ben to behave like the young lady she believes Ben to be, while Ben has always felt more like a boy...
Ben's problems take a different turn when he and a friend find the headless body of another village child in the woods. How much of the old legend is true, and do the whispers that Ben sometimes hears come from friend or foe? And will anyone discover what actually became of the schoolmaster Ichabod Crane, who disappeared after Brom's prank?
All these things come together as the story advances, with some increasingly unsettling revelations about the events of the past and the ongoing tragedies in the community. There are some very creepy scenes - not least those that involve the subsequent victims, whose bodies are not only headless but decompose at an accelerated rate. There are threats from human foes as well, including accusations of witchcraft and an attempted assault on Ben that requires an extreme act of self defense. So... not a mellow fireside ghost story at all, really.
Interestingly for the time, Ben's gender-identity - while troublesome to some in the village - never bothers his grandfather, and over the course of the story (which has a decade-later epilogue) he's accepted as "Ben" by everyone. But the nature of the Horseman, and the family curse, will direct Ben's fate.
Journal Entry 2 by GoryDetails at Valley Street Cemetery in Manchester, New Hampshire USA on Tuesday, October 4, 2022
GoryDetails at Valley Street Cemetery in Manchester, New Hampshire USA on Tuesday, October 4, 2022
Released 1 yr ago (10/4/2022 UTC) at Valley Street Cemetery in Manchester, New Hampshire USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I left this book, bagged against the elements, hanging from the fence near the Pine Street entrance to the cemetery, where some of the trees are starting to show their autumn colors. Hope someone enjoys the book! [See other recent releases in NH here.]
*** Released for the 2022 You're Such an Animal challenge. ***
** Released for the 2022 Spook-tacular challenge. ***
