THE SMUGGLER'S GIRL by JENNIE FELTON

 THE SMUGGLER'S GIRL

by

JENNIE FELTON

THE BLURB:

Cecile has been raised to a life of privilege at Polruan House, by her widowed father and aunt. Now she's of age, they are determined that she make a proper match, but Cecile's heart belongs to their coachman, Sam- most definitely not suitable marriage material.

When Sam turns to his friend, smuggler Zach carver, for help eloping with Cecile, Zach tells of a recent encounter with Lise, a beautiful but poor girl in St Ives, who is the mirror image of Cecile.

And so a daring plan is born to briefly swap the girls. But bringing Cecile and Lise together will uncover an astonishing family secret of a bold escape from a loveless marriage, a treacherous shipwreck and a sister lost to the sea long ago.

THE REALITY:

Penzance, St Ives, Marazion, Cambourne, Mount's Bay... These are all parts of the area of Cornwall I shall be seeing soon, as I'm going to be visiting there. It was a bit of a coincidence that I read this book at exactly this time, as they all get mentioned (although the novel is set in a fictional town).

Featuring (spoiler alert!) a long-lost twin sister, the theme of identical twins is something that's frowned upon by a certain magazine in its list of guidelines for the submission of short stories. Why on earth is that? It's as viable a theme as any, and its use in this story made for a poignant read, with cleverly crafted sister characters, whose personalities clearly reflected their different upbringings. I did like that this novel had a good mix of good and bad characters, and I liked that sometimes you didn't quite know who possessed true nasty character traits and who was about to redeem themselves, as in the case of (another spoiler alert!) Aaron and Godfrey. Sometimes things weren't quite as they seem throughout, and this made for an exciting read. The historical feel for the area really came to life through the accents of the working class mothers, and maternal natures really shone through as a recurring theme throughout this read- especially Marguerite's, whose back tale was dramatic but reassuring. I did wonder, however, if the idea behind this novel came from the modern television adaption of Poldark- a heroine with long, flowing red locks? Another hero (Jean- Claude) with a scar down his face? Hmmm...

Although I struggled to start this novel (timing), it must have had something going for it as I flattened it in two days. I enjoyed the evocative way the area was depicted, liked the way the differences between the classes were described through food and clothing and loved reading about the smugglers, hiding places and certain pilfered trophies. I also liked that happy endings seemed to abound for the “goodies” and that the addition of religion soothed rather than jarred (isn't that what religions are supposed to do?)  But the one character who stood head and shoulders above the rest was the wicked Cordelia- every book needs a villain and I'm glad the main protagonist here was a woman, although there were clues as to her nature throughout. A nod to being a woman who was undoubtedly in a man's world at the time (18^th century), I like how she rebelled and set herself free from the mould that was set out for her, not necessarily keeping her family happy. Everybody likes a renegade! But one as wicked as this? She made for good copy, but I'm glad she met with a dramatic comeuppance. Read it and see what I mean for yourselves!