The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

e book cover.
Author	Avi
Cover artist	Douglas Smith
Language	English
Series	none
Genre	Historical novel
Publisher	HarperCollins
Publication date	1990
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Paperback, Hardback)

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle is a novel by Avi, first published in 1990 by Scholastic Press. The book is a recipient of the Newbery Honor award. While written for a young audience, the book is well liked by many adults as well. The book is set in 1832 and told from the point of view of a girl named Charlotte Doyle. A movie adaptation for the book has been announced.

Awards

• A Newbery Honor Book
• Boston Globe—Horn Book Award
• An ALA Notable Book
• An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
• An ALA Book list Editors' Choice
• A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
• A Texas Public Library Best Book for the Teen Age
• An IRA/CBC Children's Choice.

Plot summary

The story takes place in early summer in the year 1832, beginning as thirteen-year-old Charlotte Doyle prepares to voyage alone from Liverpool, England to meet her family at their new farm in Providence, Rhode Island. Charlotte is from an upper-class family, believes strongly in proper behavior and has a low opinion of "people who speak ill of their betters." She has stayed behind in England, while her family left for Rhode Island, in order to finish her school year at the Barrington School for Better Girls. As the other families that were supposed to accompany her mysteriously fail to appear, Charlotte finds herself the only passenger on the ship, the Seahawk, and the only female on board.

Soon after the journey begins, Zachariah, the oldest and only black sailor, insists on giving her a dirk "for her protection" and tells Charlotte that the crew seeks revenge against the captain for some of his actions. She later has tea with Captain Jaggery, glad to find him of a high-class, gentlemanly nature. During this meeting, Captain Jaggery tells Charlotte that he has a few muskets hidden inside a securely locked cabinet in his quarters and that those are the only guns aboard on the ship. He tricks Charlotte into spying on the crew for him. As the book progresses, she becomes friendly with the crew and reads to them from her books. It bothers Charlotte that Zachariah and the others tell her the captain is vicious, and she refuses to believe their stories about him.

One day she is with one of her particularly favorite sailors, Ewing, as he is patching a jacket with a needle and thread, when his needle snaps. Charlotte offers to get a new one for him from the forecastle where the crew sleep. While looking for the needle she sees a pistol (contrary to the captain's words) and a round-robin, a pact telling of an imminent uprising of the crew against the captain. After contemplating whether or not to tell the captain, Charlotte's fear drives her to inform him. Captain Jaggery heads off the rebellion and shoots a stowaway, a former crew member, before having him thrown overboard. He then orders Zachariah whipped 50 lashes. Charlotte tries to protect Zachariah by grabbing the whip, but she accidentally slashes the captain's face. Jaggery is enraged and whips Zachariah unmercifully, leading to his apparent death. The crew holds a funeral for him on board.

Charlotte was too naive to realize what would happen when she revealed the crew's plans, and now feels compelled to replace Zachariah as a crew member to make up for her actions. The crew allow her to join them, as long as she can climb up and down the length of the Royal Yard, the tallest mast on the ship. When she accomplishes this feat, she joins the crew, much to the annoyance of Captain Jaggery, who dubs her "Mister Doyle" and has her things moved to the forecastle. Captain Jaggery even strikes her across the face for receiving help with work, and she vows to reveal his cruelty to the courts after they complete their voyage.

Later, as Charlotte climbs the riggings during a powerful hurricane, she nearly falls and is saved by a man whom she believes was Zachariah (despite his supposed death). As she climbs back down, the crew finds the body of the first mate, Mr. Hollybrass, stabbed in the back by the dirk Zachariah gave her. She is ordered to the brig, where she finds Zachariah, who had been hiding there since he'd been whipped. Charlotte is summoned to trial by Captain Jaggery himself because she threatens to tell her father, the owner of the ship company, about the Captain's behavior, possibly making him lose his job. The Captain finds her guilty of murder, and prepares to hang her unless she repents her ways and becomes a respectable young woman again.

With Zachariah's help, she escapes the brig and plans to usurp the Captain. When she goes to steal his muskets from his quarters, she finds the Captain awaiting her. He attempts to kill her in front of the crew, but falls from the ship to his death, despite Charlotte's effort to save him. Zachariah tells the crew that a new captain must be named and that it should be Charlotte, as she has done what they could not. She is elected as such (though she serves as captain only in name).

When they arrive in Rhode Island, Charlotte returns to her old, proper dress and behavior to greet her family, planning to tell them nothing of what had happened. However, her father reads her diary of the voyage and is appalled by her "lies" and defamation of Captain Jaggery. He burns the diary and promises Charlotte that she will be punished and reformed. During the night, she once again dons her sailor garb and escapes her home to return to the Seahawk. As she arrives at the ship, she declares, "I'm home."

Characters

Main Characters

Family

• Charlotte: Charlotte is a 13 year old girl, who is very much a young lady. She went to the Barrington School for Better Girls. Charlotte also wears a bonnet covering her beautiful hair, full skirts, high button shoes, and white gloves. She is very concerned about decorum, which changes completely by the end.

Friends

• The two families that are not able to board the Seahawk: one of the families, according to Mr.Zachariah, could not reach Liverpool in time (the place from which the Seahawk was departing.) The other family, Mr. Keetch told Mr. Grummage, had a "...seriously ill child. There is concern that she should not be moved:

====Family Servants==== is cool

• Mary: The Doyle Family Maid

• Bridget: Charlotte's personal Maid

Crew Members

Captain Jaggery

Dillingham

Grimes teaches Charlotte to use a knife

Morgan: warned Charlotte not to tell Captain Jaggery about their mutiny by sliding his finger across his throat

Hollybrass: (first mate) Was killed by Captain Jaggery because he told Captain Jaggery not to sail into a hurricane.

Barlow: gives Charlotte her first warning about being on the wrong ship. The "Seahawk."

Foley took place of Jaggery when he died.

Ewing: Charlotte gets a needle for him and finds a pistol in his suit case.

Fisk: Spoke at Charlotte's trial

Johnson took place of Hollybrass when he died because he didn't sign the round robon.

Zachariah:the Chef on the ship

Keetch (second mate) He is always nervous. Keetch gave away some secrets, only because Jaggery had some hold on him. In other words, blackmail.