Wooster author Max Fischer has third book published
The just-released “Hobbadehoy Rising” is the third book authored by Max Fischer, a retired teacher in the Wooster school system.
Historium Press recently announced the release of “Hobbadehoy Rising,” a coming-of-age historical novel by local author Max Willi Fischer.
It’s the third book by Fischer, who retired after a long career teaching history in the Wooster City Schools and who resides just outside of Wooster.
“Hobbadehoy Rising” is a about Pencil, an orphaned teen in the notorious Five Points District of lower Manhattan in 1854 who is cursed to scavenge the unforgiving streets where trust is a stranger.
As slavery has divided the nation, the good Pencil comes across is as rare as a precious gem buried in the manure-strewn streets of Gotham. The shady adults who surround him believe he’s a “hobbadehoy,” a youth who hasn’t quite reached manhood. Despite years of neglect, he hasn’t lost his empathy for others and a fledgling sense of justice. As the lieutenant of a pack of street rats, he craves greater control of his life. His luck finally runs out when through someone’s treachery he faces significant prison time.
Pencil grasps another opportunity when he’s shipped off to Ohio on one of the first “orphan trains.” Life on the farm proves to be a different challenge under the demanding and occasionally drunken thumb of his new guardian. Ultimately, he’s forced to flee, a much stronger physical specimen than when he arrived.
Pencil ends up in Cleveland, where a daguerreotypist takes him under her wing. She teaches him about capturing images on glass and copper while trying to impress upon him the importance of trust. Encounters with corpses, kidnappers and grave robbers test his acceptance of the idea and justice.
“Most of my books look at life through the lens of an older teen’s experience during a specific era of American history,” Fischer said. “Through the ages Americans have prized freedom but have often struggled to identify a unified front on what defines freedom across society.”
Fischer grew up in a bilingual household with German immigrant parents, and his father followed his aunt and uncle to America to find work. Family get-togethers were small because the rest of his family remained in Germany. His father worked two jobs to improve their lives and put his kids through school.
When Fischer retired from teaching, he believed he could engage young adults in the rich history of the land. His first book of historical fiction, “The Corkscrew App,” was published in 2016. In 2020 “American Brush-Off” debuted on Amazon and Kindle Select. Learn more about Fischer and how to order his books at www.maxwilli.com.