The Contraband Shore

Description

1787. Captain Edward Brazier is on a mission: recently paid off from his frigate and comfortably off with prize money, he is headed to Deal to propose marriage to the young and lovely widow Betsy Vaughan. He must navigate the bustle of the town's narrow streets that are busy with legal, illicit and depraved business flowing from and around the ships at dock. But all does not go well; between Betsy's brother and guardian Alexander Langridge prohibiting the match, and Brazier marked out for trouble by a local smuggling gang, his plans are in disarray. And when it slowly emerges that there may have been a decades old injustice closer to home, Brazier is caught up in more than he'd bargained for.

Born in Edinburgh in 1944, David Donachie has had a variety of jobs, including selling everything from business machines to soap. He has always had an abiding interest in the naval history of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The author of a number of bestselling books, he now lives in Deal, Kent with his wife, the novelist Sarah Grazebrook and their two children.

"It is a pleasure to read a novel so convincing in its detail, and the description of a complete smuggling operation (although aborted) shows expert planning and sharp-witted improvisation."--Historical Novels Review