Based on true events,
the background of this striking story - one of the most popular of S
Baring-Gould's many West-Country novels - is the wild and sinister
Cornish Coast of two centuries ago, when its wreckers and smugglers and
preventive men were constantly in conflict. Its main incidents are
centred around the fearsome and lawless Captain 'Cruel' Coppinger whose
life of crime and violence and whose passion for the gentle
golden-haired Judith makes a truly absorbing and exciting tale with a
tremendous climax.
Kate Howe (her video is below) said she adored
this book on her Youtube channel, it was a freebie, a Victorian story
taking place in Cornwall complete with shipwrecks and smugglers, so I had to give
it a try.
It seems many other people loved this novel, but I just
liked it, it was nice, I wasn't in a hurry to pick it up when I had to
stop reading. The beginning was original, with the chapel progressively
buried in the sand, but I could tell what was going to happen from a
mile away. Except at the end - which made me wonder if the male author
thought that women were that fickle and silly ?...
Anyway, it was nice, other readers really loved it though, so you may want to give it a try (or not, after what I just wrote !).
Kate's opinion :
The real St Enodoc church (far from the sand) :
Love the photo of the church! The book cover is alluring isn't is? But the tale perhaps not so much.
ReplyDeleteLove that picture too, I'd love to take a walk around there, such a lovely landscape. I could see how Cornish readers would love this story, but it felt too much like reading a children's book with versatile characters...
DeleteI've always been kinda fascinated with the wild coasts and wreckers / smugglers and that sorta thing..
ReplyDeleteMe too, probably all the Poldark, Daphne du Maurier novels I read - plus the "old" show Smugglers that I watched as a child :)
DeleteReminds me of Daphne du Maurier's Jamaica Inn, a tale of smugglers, set on the Cornish coast.
ReplyDeleteYes, exactly, I loved that novel !!!!
DeleteYeah I guess the real church is not exactly in the sand but it's very cool. It would be nice to tour.
ReplyDeleteBuilding a church that near the sea would be weird, but I've seen pictures of villages really close, so... ^^
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