"The end result is a searching meditation on mortality and hope that’s all the more powerful for being filtered through the quirky point of view of a child. A soulful journey that offers surprises and unforeseen victories.” starred Kirkus Review
“Gordon’s prose is lively; it rushes along with verve, humor, and heart…[She has] achieved the rare thing, a stirring, poignant story of death and love and a page-turning adventure.” Nina McLaughlin, The Boston Globe
"45 Books We're Excited About from Indie Presses & Indie Authors," Independent Book Review
WHAT BEN FRANKLIN WOULD HAVE TOLD ME explores the story of Lee, a vibrant thirteen-year-old boy who is facing premature death from Progeria (a premature aging disease); his caretaker Tomás, a survivor of Argentina’s Dirty War, who is searching for his missing wife, who was pregnant when they were both "disappeared;" and Lee's single mother, Cass, overwhelmed by love for her son and the demands of her work as a Broadway makeup artist. When a mix-up prevents Cass from taking Lee on his "final wish" trip to Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia to pursue his interest in the life of Ben Franklin, Tomás--who has discovered potential leads to his family in both cities--offers to accompany Lee on the trip. As one flees memories of death and the other hurtles inevitably toward it, they each share unsettling truths and find themselves transformed in the process. Set during the Ronald Reagan presidency, this lyrical novel transcends an adventure story to take the reader on an unforgettable journey that explores love, family, and the inevitability of change.
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“Behind this wonderfully evocative prose is a deeply compassionate writer who has created an unforgettable main character in Lee." —Andre Dubus III, #1 New York Times bestselling author of House of Sand and Fog and Gone So Long
“This largehearted, beautifully written novel takes us on an unforgettable quest with an unforgettable character. Lee, the charming, vibrant, dying child at the novel’s core, reminds us that the true source of light is in the people around us and that each moment offers us the choice of how best to spend our precious hours on this earth. Compassionate, funny, and deeply moving, What Ben Franklin Would Have Told Me is full to the brim with intelligence and love.” —Kirstin Valdez Quade, author of Night at the Fiestas and The Five Wounds
“This story belongs to Lee, a child whose questioning mind and uncanny eloquence will teach you how to die and how to live, and ultimately how to survive beyond the final pages of Donna Gordon’s astonishing novel, What Ben Franklin Would Have Told Me.”—Pamela Painter, author of Fabrications
“What Ben Franklin Would Have Told Me is a fascinating, heartrending novel that will challenge what you thought you knew about the human condition.”—Rachel Weaver, author of Point of Direction