Smuggler’s Moon by Cynthia Wright

smuggler's moonNarrated by Rosalyn Landor

Smuggler’s Moon is the first new book from Cynthia Wright in around twenty years, and is the first in a new series called The Raveneaus in Cornwall, set at the very end of the 18th century. Brother to a marquess, Lord Sebastian Trevarre has recently resigned his navy commission and returned to England with the intention of managing the horse-breeding business in Hampshire that he had helped his late mother to set up some years previously. But his brother has lost the bulk of the family fortune at the gaming tables, and Sebastian can think of only one way of amassing a suitably large amount of money quickly enough to enable him to achieve his goal. He repairs to Bath with the intention of gambling his way to solvency and meets with considerable success.

Not long after his arrival, he is unexpectedly confronted by Miss Julia Faircloth, who has discovered that her father owes Sebastian a great deal of money. Julia is one of life’s organisers and has spent most of her life managing the household because her parents were never able to deal with the practicalities of family life. There is a strong undercurrent of attraction between the pair from the moment they meet, but Sebastian recognises immediately that Julia is not the sort of woman who would make for an easy life. Which is why, following the sudden death of Mr Faircloth after he has lost his home and what little money he had left to Sebastian, the latter proposes marriage not to Julia, but to her timid sister, Sarah, believing she will make him a comfortable, docile wife who will allow him to do exactly as he pleases without challenge or interference.

Sarah is in love with someone else, and Julia, knowing her timid sister could never cope with a man like Sebastian, decides it’s down to her to find a way to keep a roof over her family’s head and to prevent Sarah’s marriage to a man who will make her miserable.

I admit, when I read in the synopsis that Julia tricks Sebastian into marrying her instead, I rolled my eyes at the idea. But Ms Wright actually manages to make it work fairly well, by setting up the scene in such a way as to make the possibility that Sebastian could mistake one sister for the other just vaguely plausible.

It’s only when the newlyweds arrive at Trevarre House in London that Sebastian learns the full extent of his brother’s recklessness. Not only has he gambled away the family fortune, he has sold off almost all his property and decamped to Italy.

Fortunately for Sebastian and his bride, the new owner of the London house is an old family friend, André Raveneau (hero of Silver Storm, first in Ms Wright’s Raveneau series), who insists they stay for a few days while Sebastian attempts to make sense of his situation. When all is said and done, he has only one place he can call his own – Trevarre House in Cornwall, a place he hates and would never willingly return. But he has no alternative, and begins to formulate a plan as to how he can make enough money to enable him to get out of Cornwall as quickly as he can, buy back the Hampshire estate and start breeding horses.

This plan, as anyone who knows anything about Cornwall at this period (or who is familiar with Winston Graham’s Poldark novels) will suspect, is going to have something to do with the “free trade” – or smuggling. It’s risky, but it offers large, swift profits, so Sebastian quickly gets to work, and with the help of his manservant, Keswick, and neighbour, Viscount Senwick, quickly puts his plans into motion.

While he is doing this, Julia – who has no idea about his intentions – rolls up her sleeves (literally as well as metaphorically) and gets to work on the house, cleaning, fixing and even cooking, battling with lazy servants and licking everything and everyone into shape. She’s an attractive heroine – strong and independently minded, but not to the extent of being TSTL. At Trevarre, she finds the home she has always longed for, and cannot understand Sebastian’s reluctance to put down roots there.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this story – in fact, I enjoyed it so much, I could have listened to it in one sitting if I hadn’t had other things to do! The descriptions of the Cornish landscape and villages are very evocative, the writing style is quite lyrical, and the story is well paced. The author takes the time to establish her settings and characters, and to develop a strong story outside of the romance while also giving the romance prominence and the time to evolve in a way that felt organic and naturalistic. Sebastian and Julia have great chemistry, the love scenes are sensual without being overly explicit, (although the author does occasionally indulge in the odd bit of purplish prose!) and most importantly, we see them getting to know each other, falling in love and working together to build something – a home and a marriage. It’s not all plain sailing (!) as there are secrets and other obstacles to be overcome, but they don’t throw petulant tantrums or blame each other; refreshingly, they adapt and try to find a way to work things out. There is a dash of adventure in the latter part of the book, too, as Sebastian’s schemes come to threaten both their marriage and their lives.

Rosalyn Landor’s performance in terms of both characterisation and narrative is every bit as good as I’ve come to expect from her. Every character is distinctly and appropriately voiced and she employs a wide variety of English regional accents as well as authentic-sounding French and American ones, switching seamlessly between them all on numerous occasions. Sebastian and Viscount Senwick, appear in many scenes together, but are always easy to tell apart, and Ms Landor once again exercises her talent for portraying smarmy villains in the form of Mr Adolphus Lynton, a former suitor of Julia’s, who is now an Excise Officer determined to smash the local smuggling rings.

The female roles are all similarly well-differentiated and the narration is smooth, nuanced and beautifully delivered. Ms Landor’s considerable vocal range and her ability to find the emotional heart of the characters continue to impress, and I’d recommend Smuggler’s Moon to anyone who enjoys an historical romance with a spot of derring-do and high-seas adventure.

Caz


Narration: A

Book Content: B

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence: Minimal

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Cynthia Wright