Mad Boy

A rollicking, picaresque novel about family and perseverance set during AmericaΓÇÖs ΓÇ£forgotten warΓÇ¥ of 1812.

Young Henry Phipps is on a quest to realize his dying motherΓÇÖs last wish: to be buried at sea, surrounded by her family. Not an easy task considering HenryΓÇÖs neΓÇÖer-do-well father is in debtorΓÇÖs prison and his comically earnest older brother is busy fighting the red coats on the battlefields of Maryland. But HenryΓÇÖs stubborn determination knows no bounds. As he dodges the cannon fire of clashing armies and picks among the ruins of a burning capital he meets looters, British defectors, renegade slaves, a pregnant maiden in distress, and scoundrels of all types. Mad Boy is at once an antic adventure and a thoroughly convincing work of historical fiction that recreates a young nationΓÇÖs first truly international conflict and a key moment in the history of the emancipation of African-American slaves.
Entertaining, atmospheric, and touching, Mad Boy will transport readers with its cast of vivid characters, its masterful storytelling, and its poignant tale of a young man burdened by an outsized undertaking.

ΓÇ£Nick Arvin is an immensely gifted writer, and he has given us a thrilling, soulful book.ΓÇ¥
ΓÇöDavid Wroblewdki, author of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle on The Reconstructionist

“This compact, intense first novel…evokes the nightmare into which soldiers are suddenly thrown.”
ΓÇöThe New York Times Review of Books on Articles of War

ΓÇ£This brilliant musket blast of a novelΓÇöin which the lucky reader will encounter falling cows, repurposed pickle barrels, fascinating schemes and fabulous schemersΓÇöis alive with humor, heat and heart. Mad Boy is a tremendous accomplishment. Nick Arvin is the real thing.ΓÇ¥
ΓÇöLaird Hunt, author of The Evening Road