Many swashes were buckled in the reading of this immersive tale of Kentish smugglers and Bonnie Prince Charlie! Sound like a contradiction? And a geographical paradox? Maybe. But anything can happen in the world of fiction. But wait…….. this is historical fiction, and so we have some facts at our fingertips. But we also have Goody Brown, the glue that cements the book together, the fact and the fiction.
At the end of the book, the author refers to the misconception that smuggling was confined to the West Country. It wasn’t. It was very much alive and well in Kent. And this isn’t the first book to deal with smuggling in this part of the world. One thinks of Russell Thorndike‘s Dr.Syn. My father grew up in that part of the country. So I’m familiar with Romney Marsh, Dymchurch and Dungeness. Maybe that gives me an advantage when reading a book like this, because I’ve visited Rye and Winchelsea too. I was instantly taken back to 18th century England and I found the research and the writing to be very evocative.The Hawkhurst gang renowned for their brutality and dominance, an organised crime gang of the 18th century!
Goody Brown is a wonderful character. Multifaceted and multitalented it seems. I found her to be the most defined character in the book. The others were there to play their parts and they did so very well. I found the book to be something of a paradox because on one level, it’s quite simplistic storytelling. A story told very well with plenty of action. But if you scratch beneath the surface, there are some deeper themes and social comment, not to mention political intrigue.
The only part I wasn’t quite so keen on was at the beginning of book 2, when we were treated to a memoir by a character, hitherto unencountered, which was very different in style from the rest of the book and for me, disturbed the rhythm a bit. Progressing further on, I could see its function which confirmed what had been very subliminally hinted at earlier in the book
I read this as part of a readalong with Canongate Books, and I thank them for my gifted copy.
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