Reading Challenge, March: Moonfleet, John Mead Faulkner
Now technically herecirm's recommendation on the list was Eric Newby's The Last Grain Race but as she was so disappointed when I chose that over Moonfleet that she actually gave me the latter for my birthday, it seemed unreasonable not to make the switch.
Moonfleet is a book you have probably read. A bonafide classic of smuggling adventure, which I remembered the beginning of from a BBC children's TV adaptation but had no further recollection of aside perhaps from some vague notion of tricorn hats.
It tells the story of young John Trenchard, an orphan who lives in the Dorset Village of Moonfleet, his growing awareness of the village's smuggling connections and the search for a legendary civil-war treasure. Early in the story John is taken in by the village publican, Elzevir Block whose own son was recently killed when a smuggling ship was taken by the exciseman, and the story is also about the growing father and son relationship between them.
The storytelling is very taut, if a little telegraphed in places, and the whole thing rips along with clear momentum. I can see why the character of Elzevir, stoical and deeply competent with an complex and adventurous past, is of great appeal to herecirm - he's very much the type of character she enjoys writing. The contrast between his steady wisdom and Trenchard's youthful impetuousness ( and the points at which the roles are reversed ) give the story much of its dynamic as they rollercoaster from success to disaster while the majority of the supporting cast appear convinced that our heroes are a pair of easy dupes and endeavour to trick them accordingly.
I really enjoyed reading this one - action-packed, brisk and enjoyable. I'll even forgive the intervention of our old friend Deus Ex Machina towards the end as that seems to have been a much more acceptable device when Faulkner was writing and it does make for a satisfying conclusion. I tend to enjoy stories in a historical setting that cast familiar locations like southern England as they were in more dangerous times and this is a good example of that type of novel.
Moonfleet is a book you have probably read. A bonafide classic of smuggling adventure, which I remembered the beginning of from a BBC children's TV adaptation but had no further recollection of aside perhaps from some vague notion of tricorn hats.
It tells the story of young John Trenchard, an orphan who lives in the Dorset Village of Moonfleet, his growing awareness of the village's smuggling connections and the search for a legendary civil-war treasure. Early in the story John is taken in by the village publican, Elzevir Block whose own son was recently killed when a smuggling ship was taken by the exciseman, and the story is also about the growing father and son relationship between them.
The storytelling is very taut, if a little telegraphed in places, and the whole thing rips along with clear momentum. I can see why the character of Elzevir, stoical and deeply competent with an complex and adventurous past, is of great appeal to herecirm - he's very much the type of character she enjoys writing. The contrast between his steady wisdom and Trenchard's youthful impetuousness ( and the points at which the roles are reversed ) give the story much of its dynamic as they rollercoaster from success to disaster while the majority of the supporting cast appear convinced that our heroes are a pair of easy dupes and endeavour to trick them accordingly.
I really enjoyed reading this one - action-packed, brisk and enjoyable. I'll even forgive the intervention of our old friend Deus Ex Machina towards the end as that seems to have been a much more acceptable device when Faulkner was writing and it does make for a satisfying conclusion. I tend to enjoy stories in a historical setting that cast familiar locations like southern England as they were in more dangerous times and this is a good example of that type of novel.