11 h 12 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 11 h 12 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does a fresh start mean when hunger, bad company, and scarce honest work pull the other way?
In Children of the Whirlwind, Leroy Scott explores crime and redemption against the hardships of city life. His world belongs to the poor, working people, and lawbreakers. Low wages and crowded tenements leave little room for comfort, while the hope of a second chance raises a difficult question: what does it take to begin again?
Scott looks beyond blame to the pressures behind wrongdoing: hunger, bad company, and a lack of honest work. His sympathies are plain, and his moral purpose stays in view. This is earnest social fiction that asks you to consider both the weight of hardship and the hard possibility of change.
What you’ll discover
- A city under pressure Enter a world where crowded homes and low wages shape the choices people face.
- More than simple blame Consider how hunger and scarce honest work can push people toward the wrong side of the law.
- The hope of redemption Explore a vision of starting again that asks for more than forgiveness alone.
- Sympathy for struggling people See city hardship through a writer whose attention rests on poor and working people.
- An earnest moral voice Meet direct storytelling that makes its sympathies clear and keeps difficult moral questions close.
Who will love it
You will love this if you enjoy city crime stories with a warm heart, clever con men who try to change, quick chases, hidden identities, and love between two proud people.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A shabby pawnshop street sets the stage
- Larry comes home and announces he is going straight
- Maggie vows he will fail and the Duchess backs him
- The police and Barney close in on Larry
- A secret password opens a rich refuge
- Maggie rides toward a grand life as a lady
- Larry plans a gentle trap built on kindness
- Honest success needs a crook's wits and a clean conscience
- We become what we are taught to be
- An all-knowing narrator tells a fast, bold tale
Who’s who
- Larry BrainardA quick-witted confidence man just out of Sing Sing, he decides to go straight and win the girl he loves.
- Maggie CarlisleA proud, defiant eighteen-year-old trained by crooks to become a polished adventuress, who is sure Larry will fail.
- The DuchessLarry's silent grandmother, who runs the pawnshop, keeps many secrets and quietly backs her grandson.
- HuntA big, loud painter living among poor neighbours, who lets them underestimate how good he really is.
- Barney PalmerA vain, smooth swindler in Broadway clothes who wants to lead the gang and win Maggie.
- Old Jimmie CarlisleMaggie's sly supposed father, a swindler who has raised her among crooks and plans to exploit her talents.
- Isabel SherwoodA poised, kind and clever woman of a wealthy family who gives Larry shelter and a chance.
- Dick SherwoodHer cheerful, reckless brother, a gentleman farmer who drinks and speculates and loves a girl he calls Miss Cameron.
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Hijos del torbellino
by Leroy Scott · 1921
A freed convict in a New York pawnshop vows to go straight, and the girl he loves swears he will fail.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEspañol
Learn a language with medium classicsEspañolFrancésAlemánItalianoJaponésPortuguésInglésHow we measure levels
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In short
What would you do on the day you leave prison, with a gang waiting to hand you the biggest job of your career? Larry Brainard turns it down.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A shabby pawnshop street sets the stage
The book opens on a narrow cobbled street beside the East River. On the left stands the Duchess's pawnshop, marked by three tarnished gilt balls.
Upstairs, a big, red-haired painter called Nuts has set up a studio in the attic. He is painting Old Jimmie Carlisle, a swindler who deals in forged paintings. The neighbours laugh at his canvases and think him a fool. Hunt lets them believe it, and we sense that he has his reasons.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1921
- Language
- Español
- Reading time
- 7 h 15 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Scott, Leroy. Children of the Whirlwind. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/children-of-the-whirlwind.
Scott, L. (2026). Children of the whirlwind. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/children-of-the-whirlwind (Original work published 1921)
Scott, Leroy. Children of the Whirlwind. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/children-of-the-whirlwind.
@book{scott2026children,
author = {Scott, Leroy},
title = {Children of the Whirlwind},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/children-of-the-whirlwind},
note = {First published 1921}
}
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What is Children of the Whirlwind about?
It follows Larry Brainard, a clever swindler who leaves Sing Sing determined to go straight, and Maggie Carlisle, a girl raised by crooks. Police, gunmen and old friends stand in his way as he tries to win her.
Who is the Duchess in Children of the Whirlwind?
She is Larry's grandmother, a shriveled, near-silent old woman who runs a pawnshop on a poor New York street. Rumours surround her name, yet she has both money and a deep loyalty to her grandson.
What does the title Children of the Whirlwind mean?
It echoes the saying about sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind. Scott suggests that the careless deeds of earlier generations bring a wild harvest for the young people in his story.
The author
Leroy Scott
1875–1929 · American novelist
Leroy Scott was an American writer who lived from 1875 to 1929. He was born in Indiana and later lived in New York City. He wrote novels, including Mary Regan, published in 1918, and Children of the Whirlwind, published in 1923.
More by Leroy Scott
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