• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Regal House Publishing

Advancing Finely Crafted Literature

  • Home
  • About Us
    • The Origin Narrative of an Indie Press
    • The Regal Mandate
    • Staff
    • Our Imprints
    • The Regal House Initiative
    • Our Professional Affiliations
    • RHP’s Climate Commitment
    • RHP Summer Scholars Program
    • Contact & FAQ
    • Blog
  • Authors
    • Our Authors
      • Regal House Authors & Poets
      • Fitzroy Books Authors & Poets
      • Pact Press Authors & Poets
    • Forthcoming Publications
    • Sour Mash: RHP’s Southern Literature Series
    • Fugere Books: RHP’s Novella Series
    • Regal House Reading Series
  • Submissions
  • Marketing & Distribution
    • Our Distribution and Printing Partners
    • Subsidiary Rights
    • Our Production Partners
    • For Retailers
    • Events
    • Book Spiel
    • A Conspiracy of Lemurs Podcast
  • Contests
    • The Fugere Book Prize for Finely Crafted Novellas
    • The Petrichor Prize for Finely Crafted Fiction
    • The Acheven Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction
    • The W.S. Porter Prize for Short Story Collections
    • The Terry J. Cox Poetry Award
  • SHOP

What Ben Franklin Would Have Told Me

January 5, 2022 Leave a Comment

$19.95 – $28.95

by Donna Gordon

Please order this title at our new RHP storefront

Clear
SKU: N/A Category: Regal House Titles
  • Description
  • Additional information

Description

In a cruel genetic twist, thirteen-year-old Lee, afflicted with Progeria (a premature aging disease) speeds through the aging process and approaches death. Fascinated by the life of Ben Franklin, his final wish is to visit the Franklin Institute and White House in Philadelphia and Washington DC. Due to a family mix-up that keeps his single mother in Newark, Lee’s new caretaker Tomas—a survivor of Argentina’s Dirty War—agrees to take Lee instead. Lee, fighting the acceleration of time, and Tomas, fighting a past filled with memories of imprisonment and torture, help each other pursue a final quest—for Lee it is the ghost of Ben Franklin, for Tomas his missing family, “disappeared” in the war and possibly living in Philadelphia. One heading inevitably towards death, the other fleeing it, Lee and Tomas share their unsettling truths with each other.

Praise for What Ben Franklin Would Have Told Me

“This largehearted, beautifully written novel takes us on an unforgettable quest with an unforgettable character. Lee, the charming, vibrant, dying child at the novel’s core, reminds us that the true source of light is in the people around us and that each moment offers us the choice of how best to spend our precious hours on this earth. Compassionate, funny, and deeply moving, What Ben Franklin Would Have Told Me is full to the brim with intelligence and love.”

-Kirstin Valdez Quade, author of The Five Wounds and Night at the Fiestas

“This story belongs to Lee, a child whose questioning mind and uncanny eloquence will teach you how to die and how to live, and ultimately how to survive beyond the final pages of Donna Gordon’s astonishing novel, What Ben Franklin Would Have Told Me.”

-Pamela Painter, author of Fabrications

“What Ben Franklin Would Have Told Me is a fascinating, heartrending novel that will challenge what you thought you knew about the human condition.”

-Rachel Weaver, author of Point of Direction

Related

Additional information

Weight 1.8 lbs
Dimensions 8.5 × 1 × 5.5 in
format

Special Edition Hardcover, Paperback, Epub

You may also like…

  • What Disappears – Special Edition Hardcover

    $28.95
    Add to cart
  • Down to the River – Special Edition Hardcover

    $28.95
    Add to cart
  • The Lost Son – Special Edition Hardcover

    $28.95
    Add to cart

Related products

  • Killing the Bee King

    Killing the Bee King

    $9.99 – $28.95
    Select options
  • Stories in the Key of Me by Michael C. Keith, Regal House Publishing

    Stories in the Key of Me

    $15.95
    Select options
  • The Frog's Song by Joyce Davis

    The Frog’s Song

    $6.99 – $12.95
    Select options
  • The Wild Impossibility by Cheryl Ossola

    The Wild Impossibility

    $16.95
    Select options

Related

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Footer

The Regal House Enterprise

Regal House Publishing is the parent company to the following imprints:

Fitzroy Books publishing finely crafted MG, YA and NA fiction.

Pact Press publishing finely crafted anthologies and full-length works that focus upon issues such as diversity, immigration, racism and discrimination.

The Regal House Initiative, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that conducts project-based literacy and educational outreach in support of underserved communities.

From our Blog

Jeanette Horn

After 42 Years, The Muse Bookshop Still Promotes Literacy and Community

Arvida Book Company: A Warm and Nurturing Community Gathering Spot

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Google +
  • Email
Regal House Publishing · © 2017–2023 · Website design by Lafayette & Greene