The Gallows Pole

The Gallows Pole recounts the rise and fall of the Cragg Vale Coiners who, as the pastoral moorlands of their native Yorkshire were being transformed by the architecture of industry in the 1760s, so tirelessly counterfeited currency that the local economy almost crashed. In spite of a dim sense of social justice, they were less Robin Hood’s Merry Men and more The Sopranos, and demands for loyalty and the impossibility of trust, a neighborhood co-opted through intimidation and largesse, and reputations built on brutality and even more bravado all make for a tale as propulsive as—well—the best gangster stories. And like those, what elevates the familiar plot is the telling. Myers’s just-over-the-top style is the perfect pairing for the harsh yet otherworldly environment and its true-myth-in-the-making. And be sure to read aloud (in your head) the alternating chapters of King David Hartley’s phonetically rendered jail cell confession so you get every last pungent drop. This book is not for those with delicate ears or stomachs. Take that as either warning or added inducement. —Liz New Book of the Week