A novel by John Atkinson
ISBN 9780977607655 (ISBN 10: 0977607658) 248 pp. 2008, 1st Edition Hard Cover.
Nominated for the 2009 Library of Virginia award in fiction!
USA Today says— "Better get ready 'cause the Timekeeper's coming to town!"
"The first sentence of Timekeeper, a
memoir by John Atkinson, drew me in and wouldn’t let me leave until I
finished this wonderful book. The writing is first rate and made even
more impressive by the fact that the young Atkinson was thought to be
stupid by his teachers, unable to be taught how to read like everyone
else. It is a story about abuse and a boy leaving on his own at 14 to
find answers, and ultimately finds redemption. I’m thankful he takes us
along with him. This is a deeply moving book and you will be the better
for reading it." —Sharon Baldacci, author, A Sundog Moment
"Within the first few pages, John Atkinson's Timekeeper had weaved its
essence around my heart and refused to let me go. Written in the same
spirit as Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees, Timekeeper is a
magnificent tale of a young boy who can't read, or at least he hasn't
found the means to do so up to this point in his life. Misunderstood by
his teachers and elders, and physically beaten into the ground by his
father, Johnnyboy runs away from home at the age of fourteen and sets
off into the unknown to find himself. What he couldn't find in his own
father, the universe provides for him in a multitude of miraculous
ways. In spite of all his suffering and adversities, Johnnyboy's spirit
remains intact... better yet, like a boxer taking a relentless barrage
of punches, he spits his beating into the ringside pail and comes out
dancing like never before into the next rounds/chapters of this
magnificent tale of redemption. Readers, Booksellers, Journalists,
Reviewers, Critics, and even you Movie Makers, about all I can tell you
is, 'Better get ready 'cause the Timekeeper is coming to town!'" —USA
Today
