It is 1864 Washington and the Civil War is entering the last years of the bloody national conflict. For young Samuel Everdine, an orphaned boy adopted by an elderly couple and newly arrived in the capital city, a journey of guilt and innocence, of sins of omission and commission, has just begun. Taken under wing by his neighbor Mrs. Mary Surratt who becomes like a mother to him, Samuel also becomes playmate and best friend to young Tad Lincoln at the White House. Tad’s indulgent and loving father, Abraham Lincoln, becomes like a second father to the boy.

Drawn into the dark secrets and mysterious visitors in the Surratt House, Samuel becomes an unwitting conduit between the boarding house and the White House and as an old man writing his memoirs wonders if he helped the woman he loved like a mother plot against the man he loved like a father. Part coming of age story, part dark mystery, and part historical fiction, The Hanging Boy is a novel that lays bare the heart of a boy who recalls the love he had for the man who became the heart of the nation.