The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
	e book cover.
Author	Avi
Cover artist	Douglas Smith
Language	English
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 fictional book set in 1832 written by Avi and published by Scholastic Press in 1990. While written for a young audience (11–13), the book is well liked by many adults as well. It won a Newbery Honor award in 1991. The book is told from a girl name Charlotte Doyle's point of view and is split into Part One and Part Two.

Awards

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

Plot summary

The book tells the story of Charlotte Doyle, a 13 year old girl, who boards a ship called the Seahawk in 1832 for a voyage from England to her home in Providence, Rhode Island. She is raised in an upper-class family and, as she says in the beginning, wants to be a lady. The author puts much emphasis on her wanting to be proper. Her family has already gone to Rhode Island and she was left to come alone in order to finish her year of schooling at the Barrington School for Better Girls. As the other families that were supposed to accompany her mysteriously fail to appear,well, thats what she is told Charlotte finds herself the only passenger on the voyage to Rhode Island and the sole female on board.

Charlotte is devastated by the horrible conditions on the ship and thinks of the crew as her inferiors. Captain Jaggery is the only person Charlotte can relate to on the ship. Early in the voyage she meets Zachariah, an old African cook. Zachariah gives Charlotte a small 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. During this meeting, Captain Jaggery tells Charlotte that he has a few muskets and that those are the only guns aboard on the ship. As the book progresses, she slowly mingles with the crew and reads to them from her books.

Later in the book Charlotte finds herself watching a member of the crew sew. The needle snaps and Charlotte offers to get a new one for him. She goes into the forecastle, the crew's room. 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. Charlotte goes to tell Captain Jaggery, who then calls the crew on deck. They arrive with weapons, ready to attack, but none do so because of the captain's muskets. Charlotte is forced to take sides in the mutiny. A member of the crew is killed and Zachariah is first whipped by the first mate Mr. Hollybrass, then whipped again, mercilessly by the Captain. Charlotte does not think as highly of Captain Jaggery anymore and feels that he is rather cruel.

Charlotte decides to join the crew to make up for causing the death and whipping of the two crew members. She is at first rejected, but then the crew agrees to let her in if she can climb to the highest point of the ship, the royal yard. After an arduous climb, she comes back down successfully. She learns to do the crew's jobs.

The captain leads the ship into a hurricane in an attempt to make up for lost time. In the commotion, the First mate is killed with Charlotte's knife. The captain charges Charlotte with the murder of the ship's First Mate. The captain finds Charlotte guilty after the trial. Though sentenced to be hanged, she ends up confronting the captain on the bowsprit and as Captain Jaggery is about to fall over board, Charlotte has the option to save him, or let him fall to his watery death. The captain falls into the ocean and drowns. Her friend, Zachariah, tells the crew they need a new captain, and Charlotte is chosen to be the new captain of the ship (though only in name, while Zachariah takes charge instead).

A few days later the Seahawk lands in Providence, Rhode Island, where her family lives. However, she finds her family unwilling to believe her story, and they disapprove of Charlotte's outlandish tales. Eventually she decides to leave her family and return to life at sea, the place where she now believes is home on the Seahawk.

Characters

The Doyle family

Charlotte Doyle: The protagonist of the book. This 13-year-old girl at first wants to be ladylike, fitting her high class and looking down upon the crew, but later she decides to join the crew in their tasks after seeing the true Captain Jaggery. She also is accused of the murder of Mr. Hollybrass later in the book, taken to a trial, and (wrongly) found guilty. A dramatic turn of events towards the end of the book save Charlotte from the gallows.; Charlotte Doyle disappoints her parents when she arrives home in America with unladylike appearances and behavior. Soon regaining her family's (false) confidence in her by reading books, Charlotte surprises her parents when she disappears mysteriously one night. She has chosen to sail again.
Charlotte's father: A strict, ardent parent engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods. Tells Charlotte, "justice is poorly served when you speak ill of your betters." The two most important things in his life are regularity and order. Only appears at the end of the book.
Charlotte's mother: A passive person who never disagrees with Charlotte's father. Only appears at the end of the book.
Albert and Evelina: Charlotte's slightly annoying younger siblings. They are like smaller versions of their parents. Only appear at the end of the book.

Doyle family associates

Mrs. Emmerson: Charlotte's chaperon. Never boards the Seahawk
Mr. Grummage: A business associate of Charlotte's father in charge of escorting Charlotte to the ship and making final arrangements for her trip to America. An emotionless, rigid character with no compassion, whatsoever.

The crew of the ship

Captain Jaggery: The cruel captain of the Seahawk. He has a daughter named Victoria (does not appear in the book) whom he rarely sees, but keeps a portrait of in his cabin. Sailing is his life. He has a reputation for making quick and profitable journeys, but the crew know that he is a tyrant. During the climax of the book, he kills Hollybrass by stabbing him with Charlotte's dirk.

He is killed before the end of the novel when he falls from the bow. As he tries to get back out of the water, he grabs hold of the figurehead of the Seahawk, but before he can pull himself onto the ship again it plunges forward and he is pulled under the ship and dies.

Zachariah: The second protagonist of the novel. Acts as cook and doctor for the crew.; He is very kind and tries (successfully) to become a friend to Charlotte. At first, Charlotte prejudges Zachariah because he is Black and a mere sailor, but later realizes that he too can be a friend.; He gives Charlotte a dirk because he says that the crew is seeking revenge for some of the captain's actions.; At the end of the (first) attempted mutiny he is chosen to be whipped 50 times. Hollybrass is ordered to carry out the task but stops after the third lash. Then Jaggery cruelly finishes the whipping. After this Zachariah, who is still alive, is taken down to the Brig and hidden away. Jaggery and Charlotte presume he is dead after seeing the crew throw what is presumed to be Zachariah's body overboard in Zachariah's sewn up hammock. As Charlotte and the captain later find, Zachariah is still alive and plans to reveal the captain's actions to the authorities after they disembark.; After Jaggery dies, Zachariah becomes the effectual captain of the Seahawk (it was Charlotte who was named captain).
Cranick: The stowaway aboard the Seahawk.; His arm was amputated by Zachariah after Captain Jaggery beat him. He attempted to lead the mutiny against the Captain, but died from being shot by the Captain. Zachariah tried to say words on his behalf, but the captain refused. The crew was unable to have a proper funeral and was forced to throw him overboard.
Hollybrass: The First mate who does not respect Captain Jaggery, at least in Charlotte's eyes. He gets into an argument about whether or not they should have directed the ship into a hurricane with Jaggery, who then murders Hollybrass (during the hurricane).
Keetch: Second mate who was demoted after Zachariah was whipped. Fears Jaggery more than Hollybrass. A spy for Jaggery toward the end of the book, ruining Charlotte's and Zachariah's plan.
Johnson: Becomes second mate after Zachariah is whipped.
Ewing: Broke his needle and asked Charlotte to go to fetch another one for him. (It was then that Charlotte went to the forecastle and saw the round robin "and pistol".)
Fisk: First mate while Charlotte is captain. For following voyages, Fisk is the captain of the Seahawk.
Grimes: Testifies to teaching Charlotte to use a knife, and that Charlotte was good at it, during the trial.
Morgan: Ignored Charlotte when she was accused of murder.
Barlow: Second mate while Charlotte is captain, possible first mate.
Dillingham: First to admit he saw Charlotte with a knife during the trial.
Foley: Suggests Charlotte climb to Royal Yard while she attempts to "join the crew".

Film

A film adaptation of the novel is in development, which would be directed by Danny DeVito and filmed in New Zealand. [1] It will star Dakota Fanning, Pierce Brosnan and Morgan Freeman.