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Jane Jackson
Robert Hale
31 October 2011 / ISBN: 9780709093084
Historical Romance /Regency / Cornwall
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Reviewed
by Rachel A Hyde
Readers who first met the inhabitants of the Cornish village of
Porthinnis in Devil’s Prize (also reviewed on this site) will
be pleased to see it now has a sequel. Jenefer Trevanion’s
home burned down in the earlier book and she lost her father. For
a time things were desperate but now she is very much her own woman,
working as a book-keeper and even acting as a sort of bank for the
villagers. She is also an agent for a group of Guernsey merchants
who supply goods to smugglers, none of which endears her to the
respectable locals. Despite the house being destroyed there is still
the land, and her father’s heir is not herself but one Charles
Polgray. He wants to extend the harbor and has big plans for Porthinnis
– how will he react to having to work with the independent
Jenefer?
If there is one thing better than one good book, is its good sequel,
and this is it. The scene has already been set for readers in the
first book so now we can get on with more actual plot as well as
getting to know the old characters better and a few new ones. Ms
Jackson’s love of her native Cornwall shines through, as does
her knowledge of the area’s history. Here we can see how smuggling
fitted into the local economy and was a way of life, as well as
learning about its industrial past in the most entertaining way.
Jenefer and Charles make for engaging protagonists and the author
manages to avoid most of the pitfalls and clichés featured
in too many other romance novels. If you are looking for an intelligent
historical romance with plenty of local color you have found it.
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