T.K. Welsh

RESURRECTION MEN

The Thrushmetal Review, May 2007
"While attending to the immediate medical needs of a young street urchin trampled by a nobleman’s carriage, Dr. Lambro tells the tale about a similar boy he once knew, named Victor. Victor, formerly of Modena, a London transplant, was cruelly orphaned and eventually sold into servitude as a street beggar. The dark, putrid, gray atmosphere of 1830s London is recreated here in vivid and sometimes brutal detail, accurately reflecting the environment of the era. While begging for his food and lodging, he befriends other children in the Master’s keep: Nico, a fellow Italian, and Rebecca, a blind girl with a wisdom and understanding of the world beyond her few years. Along with the Master and the juvenile beggars are a duo, Tipple and Biggs. These are the Resurrection Men of the title: body snatchers who procure corpses for resale to the medical community, which happens to be experiencing a renaissance of sorts. The burgeoning field of medicine requires cadavers — the fresher the better — for surgeons to dissect and unlock the secrets contained within. The duo attempts to lure Victor into the macabre arts of grave robbing using salvation from the streets as the lure.

"Welsh has incorporated gothic, mystery, and horror genres into a historical novel that is very readable. I made the mistake of attempting to eat macaroni salad while reading the vivid description of the Smithfield district, complete with the putrifacted animal carcasses, rotting fat, skins strewn about, blood spraying, walking ankle deep in gore, and all other manner of butchery by-products. The feel of the language of the time has been maintained without getting bogged down in exact replication — the cockney of Tipple and Biggs is explained by Victor — fact is the language is as foreign to him, being Italian, as it is to some of us reading the book as modern English speakers. The action and pace is steady and quick, rarely pausing, and finishes in an unforgettable, movie-quality fight-to-the-death.

"When readers finish, the experience doesn’t end with the last page. Instead, there is a code, which unlocks bonus content on the author’s website: www.tkwelsh.com."

What do you think of this review?  Click on Comments, below.

To buy your copy, click here!

APRIL, 2007, Readers' Poll

The results are in for the April, 2007, Readers' Poll about RESURRECTION MEN.  Congratulations!  Every one of you who answered this one got it right!

The correct answer was, "To dinner with the Earl of Leicester."

Where was the Marquess of Stanton going when his coach struck a boy on the road?

100% To dinner with the Earl of Leicester 0% Shooting with friends 0% To a masked ball in Winchester 0.0% To London on business 0.0% To his country estate in south Surrey

MAY 2007

NEW AND NOTEWORTHY

RESURRECTION MEN
Released on April 19th, 2007, RESURRECTION MEN is finally available.  Run out and get your copy today!

I'll be reading from RESURRECTION MEN this month at the Princeton Teen Book Bash and at Borders, in Princeton, New Jersey.  (See Events, below)  Come on down and say hello.

If you already own a copy of RESURRECTION MEN, click here to access a secret section of the site...just for you.  (NOTE:  Enter the name Secret (S-e-c-r-e-t) and the correct Password, printed at the rear of the book.)

Inspired by the 1831 “Italian Boy” trial of body snatchers in London, England, RESURRECTION MEN is a spine-tingling murder mystery that pits a beggar boy named Victor against a nefarious group of Resurrection Men. In this tumultuous dark underworld, where a “fresh subject” can fetch as much as nine guineas -- the yearly salary of a working man -- Victor must risk his life to uncover the identity of the murderer who is at the heart of London’s furtive trade in human corpses.

For a sample chapter of RESURRECTION MEN, click here.

To buy your copy, click here!

THE UNRESOLVED
Ranked one of the Top Ten Children's Books of 2006 by the Washington Post, THE UNRESOLVED has been named a 2007 Association of Jewish Libraries Notable Book for Teens by the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee, which recognized only six works in Jewish teen literature this year.  The novel was nominated for the 2006 Cybils literary awards, and for the 2007 Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA) by the American Library Association.  It's currently featured as one of the Best Teen Books of the year 2006 at BarnesAndNoble.com.

The Washington Post said, "Welsh writes with a precision and delicacy unusual for YA fiction."  School Library Journal said, "THE UNRESOLVED tells a remarkable story in a remarkable way."  Horn Book Magazine called THE UNRESOLVED, "A decidedly unconventional ghost story ... (and) a tightly wound novel."  Kirkus Reviews termed it, "A remarkable account."  Romantic Times said, "THE UNRESOLVED is a book you shouldn't pass up."  The Edge of the Forest said, "It may be the most beautifully written novel I've read this year."  All About the Book said, "The Unresolved is a great one. Mallory is the most well-developed ghostly character I've seen in a long, long time..."  And Midwest Book Review called THE UNRESOLVED, "a wonderfully different kind of ghost story."

Inspired by the tragic events of 9/11, THE UNRESOLVED reaches back into history to explore what was, until recently, the greatest disaster in New York City history.  Based on the sinking of the General Slocum steamship -- which caught fire in the East River, New York, in 1904, resulting in the death of over 1,000 mostly German immigrants on a church outing -- THE UNRESOLVED is at once a ghost story, a courtroom drama, an examination of immigrant life, and a tale of love, redemption and revenge.  The novel dramatizes how a single life –- and death –- can have a powerful influence on history.

For a sample chapter of THE UNRESOLVED, click here.

To buy your copy, click here!

READERS' POLL
The results are in for the April, 2007, Readers' Poll.  The question was, "Where was the Marquess of Stanton going when his coach struck a boy on the road?"  Everyone who responded got this one correct!  Congratulations!  The answer was, "To dine with the Earl of Leicester."

For the results of previous polls (except for March, 2007!), click here.

REVIEWS (Excerpted in April)

RESURRECTION MEN -- Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly, April 2007
"A haunting tour of London's underclass during the 1830s...Welsh's visceral descriptions of industrial London are unflinching...Teens will likely be both captivated by Victor's harrowing story as well as his ability to prevail in the face of harsh injustices."

KLIATT, Free Online Library, April 2007
"Based on the body-snatcher trials of the 1830s, this dark, atmospheric thriller by the author of the YA novel The Unresolved is an absorbing if often gruesome read...Like M.T. Anderson's The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, this look at sinister events in history makes the era come alive and lingers in the memory."

S -- Recommended for senior high school students.

VOYA, April 2007
"Welsh paints a harsh, bleak portrait of life in London during this period, with a special emphasis on the exploitation of the hordes of homeless children who roamed the streets. His plot and writing style are reminiscent of Oliver Twist by Dickens but far more graphic. Teen readers will thoroughly enjoy the hair-raising suspense in this historical thriller."

THE UNRESOLVED -- Editorial Reviews

ALAN Review, April 2007 (Winter Edition)
"No doubt many adolescents will enjoy this blend of romance and the supernatural set against the backdrop of an American tragedy that is often overlooked."

For the full text of the Reviews, click here.

EVENTS

RESURRECTION MEN
Date:        May 5th, 2007
Venue:     Princeton Teen Book Bash
Time:       Noon - 5:00 PM (Welsh reading at 4:20 - 4:30 PM)
Address:  Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ
Phone:             (609) 924-9529      

List of participating authors so far:  Sarah Beth Durst, Daniel Ehrenhaft, E.R. Franks, Mariah Fredricks, Robin Friedman, K.L. Going, Rob Krech, Marie Lamba, E. Lockhart, David Lubar, Carolyn MacCullough, Leslie Margolis, Wendy Mass, Megan McCafferty, Patricia McCormick, Blake Nelson, Kieran Scott, Ned Vizzini, Maryrose Wood, and yours truly, T.K. Welsh.

RESURRECTION MEN
Date:        May 9th, 2007
Venue:     Borders Books
Time:       7:00 PM
Address:  601 Nassau Park, Bldg. G, (off Route 1), Princeton, NJ
Phone:             (609) 514-0040