A Nest of Vipers

by Catherine Johnson

Cato Hopkins is the youngest member of Mother Hopkins's family - a group of fraudsters who roam the streets of London. But old age is slowing down Mother Hopkins and she wants to carry out a final con - and so the gang set about bringing ruin upon cruel slave master Captain Walker.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Historical, Fiction

Audible Audio

First published April 3, 2008

About the author

Catherine Johnson is a British author and screenwriter known for her young adult fiction and work in film, television and radio. Born in London to a Jamaican father and Welsh mother, she studied film at St Martin's School of Art before publishing her debut novel, The Last Welsh Summer (1993). She has since written around 20 novels, including works on Arctic explorer Matthew Henson, and won the 2019 Little Rebels Award for Freedom. Her historical novel Sawbones (2013) earned multiple shortlistings and the Young Quills Award. Johnson co-wrote the screenplay for Bullet Boy (2004) with Saul Dibb, and has served as Royal Literary Fund Fellow, Writer in Residence at Holloway Prison, and judge for the Jhalak Prize. In 2019, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot, the dialogue and setting feels authentically Georgian. Each scene gives so much great detail that gives the characters dimension, away from just moving the plot along. Cato is an engaging hero. I loved the framing device of him telling his story from prison, and the way the heist of the story slowly builds and develops with twists, especially in the third act where the heist segues back into the frame section- that works really well.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most fantastically entertaining MG history novel I have ever read, bar none. Read it!!!! :)

(It deserves a long, in-depth review, but I'm jetlagged and exhausted and don't have the energy. But seriously, the bottom line is: this book is SO MUCH FUN. Don't wait on long reviews. Just read it!)

[Catherine Mayo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given the content, I would imagine this is more for young teens than children – violence execution, death, theft…
The historical setting is well-told. It’s a little difficult to analyse the style, as the actor/narrator has the cockney voice of the young hero, so he sounds very believable and present as he tells his life story. But there are definite historical elements in his voice, without being overt.

[Varsha Seshan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful read, A Nest of Vipers plunged me into the life of London, in an almost idyllic family where blacks and whites meet and work together, even though the world outside the Hopkins family is nowhere near as equal …

http://www.varshaseshan.com/blog/book...

[Uberbooknerd49 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another historical fiction I got from a museum. this was a really really quick read, it has a good story to it but its a bit unbelievable.

[Jacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Supposedly a novel for 'middle grade' readers this is definitely for the older end of that age range. Cato Hopkins is a member of Mother Hopkins' criminal gang in 18th century London. An aging Mother Hopkins wants to pull one last con, this time on the daughter of a cruel slave-owning sea-captain. The story unfolds as told by fourteen year old Cato from his condemned cell, the night before his execution. (See what I mean about the age of the readers?) What he tells the clergyman bookends the story, but between the bookends we also get his recollections. He's a foundling, a brown skinned babe bought from his mother for a few pennies and reared, not unkindly, by Mother Hopkins in a gang of similar unfortunates. Their base being rooms in the inn called A Nest of Vipers, comfortable in its familiarity. The little gang specializes in conning marks out of their money, choosing the greedy as their victims because, as Cato says, you can't con an honest man. Their con is planned down to the last detail, but it doesn't go according to plan. The characters are sympathetic, the setting (London 1712) feels authentic and the action carries you along nicely. This is an engaging read and you are certainly rooting for Cato as his story is told and the cart comes to take him to Tyburn. No spoilers, but this is a book for children.

[Justine Laismith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This middle-grade book is set in the early 18th century, about an orphan involvement in one final scam for enough money to London for good.

Cato and his motley gang of 'adopted family' make their living out of scamming rich people who can afford to lose the money. After one close shave, his adoptive mother has decided to pull one final stunt that will give them enough money to leave London, and lead a quiet and honest life.

The story has light touches of various aspects of 18th century living, eg rich owners with house maids, slavery, racism. These themes are pitched perfectly for middle-grade readers; they are there if you want to delve into the topic, but they form a subtle backdrop to the fast-paced narrative of the heist.

Opening line: 'How'd I come into the profession?' I was looking up at the priest in the dark of the condemned cell. I knew I was shivering - and not from the cold either. In all my fourteen years I'd never been this close to death and it was only hours away. Hours until I was to hang.

[Paula Schumm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook from the library. This is an Oliver Twist sort of story, filled with kids who are deceivers and thieves. Cato is a kid who is ready to hang for his offenses, and this is his tale as told to the hangman. YA. Really quick read. Recommended.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. Young Cato Hopkins lives with his "family" of confidence tricksters in 18th Century London. The leader of the gang, the notorious "Mother" Hopkins, is getting old and London is becoming too hot for them. Mother decides to pull off one last con, on the family of a particularly brutal slave owner, but when Cato- who has, under the guise of a slave page boy, already freed Sam, who is now a sedan chair operator- unwittingly involves Quarmy, the son of a West African King, his pride, inexperience and infatuation with the daughter of his former tutor, the whole plan may go horribly wrong...

This book has fantastic detail about London in the 18th Century, and the structure would be very interesting to discuss with a class. The novel starts and ends with Cato telling his all story to the Newgate Gaol chaplain, but the central section is told in the third person, if all from Cato's point of view. I would recommend this book to read as part of a class topic on the history of London, during Black History Month or simply as a great, exciting adventure story. Probably this would be most suitable for confident readers 9+.