Blackwood, Gary. The year of the hangman.

Penguin, Putnam, Dutton. 291p. c2002. 0-525-46921-4. $16.99. JS

We can only hope that YA readers catch on immediately that this is an alternate history--the British didn't win the Revolutionary War, Washington wasn't imprisoned, Franklin didn't seek refuge in New Orleans. Blackwood tells the story from the viewpoint of a spoiled young Englishman named Creighton, whose mother arranges to send him to the Colonies to the care of an uncle. It's directly after the British have won the war decisively in this alternate history; uchronia is the name of this genre, Blackwood explains.

Patriots have round shelter in New Orleans, a city not under the control of the British, and Creighton somehow gets into the household of the printer, Ben Franklin, where his uncle wants him to spy for the British cause. In the course of the novel, Creighton's loyalties shift and he understands why the Americans want to rid themselves of British rule. He actually develops a conscience.

There is a lot of action. And although Creighton is a kind of anti-hero at first, he does become much more sympathetic as the story proceeds. He had never worked before in his life as a young gentleman, and slowly he finds he enjoys the satisfaction of helping Franklin in the printing business, actually producing a finished product to be proud of. There are battles, skirmishes, escapes, a duel--everything that might please a YA reader interested in that period of history.