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The Trial

By Jen Bryant

This novel-in-verse tells the story of the 1935 trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann for the kidnapping and murder of Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr., as told by Katie Leigh Flynn, a 13-year-old who lives in Flemington, where the trial took place. Bryant expertly interweaves Katie's perceptions of Hauptmann, Lindbergh and the details of the trial

with the events of her personal life (especially her single mother's relationship with a local newspaper editor), as well as the conditions of the Great Depression. The Trial, unlike other stories about this case, does not take a definitive stance on whether or not Hauptmann really was guilty; the reader, like Katie, is left only with more

questions. Bryant gets one or two minor details wrong (such as the order of the witnesses), and this probably didn't need to be a novel-in-verse. Nonetheless, it's a splendid work that might pique the interest of readers to learn more about this intriguing piece of New Jersey history.

-Mr. Nutt

G.A.T.E.