But One Life

The Story of Nathan Hale

By: Samantha Wilcoxson

Narrated by: Nathan Agin

"If I had ten thousand lives, I would lay them all down."

In the early 1770’s, Nathan Hale is a young philosophy student at Yale. There, he, his brother, and their friend, Ben Tallmadge, are busying themselves with intellectual debate and occasional mischief.

Only too soon, their patriotic ideals of revolution and liberty would be put to the test. Forced to choose between love and duty, young Nathan has to face the harsh personal cost of deeply held beliefs as he leaves to become Washington’s spy.

In this powerful novel of friendship and sacrifice, Samantha Wilcoxson paints a vivid portrait of a young man’s principled passion and dedication to his ideals, turning the legend into flesh and blood.

This is the touching and thought-provoking story of how an ordinary boy grew into an extraordinary man – an American hero.

©2022 Samantha Wilcoxson (P)2024 Samantha Wilcoxson

My poor heart!

I grew to like this character so very much, and my poor heart is breaking (as it should)! I love the narrator, and his way of presenting the speech patterns. At first listen, I think additional change in cadence could make the tense parts even more so.

The foreshadowing is excellent, and all the ends tied up well. It’s surprising that a quick study like Nathan would meet such a fate so quickly after setting out, but it speaks to how the real situation may have unfolded before complex spy rings formed.

I would definitely read this again!

Fabulous Historical Fiction Novel!

This is an entertaining, well-written, thoroughly researched, historical fiction novel. It vividly depicts the life of Nathan Hale, and his inspiring, heroic, and tragic life. I particularly enjoyed reading about his debate as a member of the Linonian Society at Yale, and admire his forward thinking ideas. The quotes at the beginning of each chapter were an excellent addition to the story. The author's notes are interesting and informative, and are truly appreciated. I listened to the audio book, and the narrator, Mr. Nathan Agin, whom the author informed me was named for Nathan Hale, has a captivating voice, and does an outstanding job voicing the characters. Many thanks to Ms. Wilcoxson, from whom I received a gift of this wonderful novel as a subscriber to her newsletter. This is my honest opinion.