"A richly satisfying feast of superstition and suspicion set in a “benighted” Cornish cove in the early 1800s."
Mary Blight, our unswervingly entertaining heroine, is a salty-talking, salty-acting woman. She picks over the corpses of those drowned off her craggy Cornish cove looking for treasures, such as the fine boots she pulls from a lady’s feet. And then she sees that the body’s earlobes are missing, leading to the national press reporting on the Porthmorvoren Cannibal, and someone saw blood around Mary’s mouth…But it’s Mary who takes in a washed-up stranger and nurses him back to health with the aid of Old Jinny’s curious cure. The man is a Methodist minister who decides to restore the cove to godliness and, observing Mary’s knowledge of the scriptures, he appoint her as Sunday School teacher, to the chagrin of the villagers who are familiar with Mary’s penchant for carnal pleasures. Mary throws herself into her new role but admits in typically honest fashion “I wanted Gideon to save me, but not so that I could kneel at the throne of King Jesus…I wanted him to help me flee the village so I could parade among all the smots in all my finery in a grand town”.
As the villagers scheme against Mary, a nation-wide search for a thief gathers pace, and all the while the writing crackles with energy and atmosphere, making this an exhilarating read with something of a Dickensian spirit in the vibrant characterisation.
| Primary Genre | Historical Fiction |
| Recommendations: |
Saving a life gives Mary Blight ideas above her station…ideas that lead to lies…lies that lead to forbidden love…which leads to consequences.
Mary Blight is a memorable heroine. Strong and feisty she is as hot blooded as her hair is red. Eking out a living in the close-knit community of Porthmorvoren, she is as guilty of stealing from the dead of a wrecked vessel as the rest of the inhabitants. Vessels offered by the sea are accepted gratefully, no-one is ever turned over to the authorities and what takes place on the beach stays on the beach. But Mary dreams of escape, of leaving the narrow minded, superstitious village behind. When she saves preacher Gideon Stone from the sea, she sees him as her saviour, regardless that he is a married man.
Consumed with religious fervour, Gideon embarks on building a chapel for the village; driven by his own demons, he is desperate to save others from theirs.... Read Full Review
Historical novel looking at the hard life lived by the tough villagers of a remote Cornish village who make their life from fishing, farming and relieving shipwrecks of their cargoes and treasures.
Wrecker is set in the early 19th century, presumably (the frontispiece says ten years after the French wars or thereabouts) in a remote and impoverished Cornish village called Porthmorvoren. Villagers scrape a living fishing and salting the catch, farming, and “wrecking” - relieving the occasional ship which founders and breaks on the dangerous coastal rocks of its cargo and treasures.
It is during the frenzied activity of such a shipwreck that we meet the main character Mary Blight, a Demelza lookalike from the famous Cornish novels Poldark. Mary lives with her ailing mother and sister with very little and during the chaos of the smuggling operation she pulls a pair of fine boots from a noble woman washed up on the freezing beach early on a winters morning.... Read Full Review
A really interesting tale set in Cornwall's dark past, when ships were lured onto the rocks and their goods scavenged. A sort of cross between Daphne du Maurier and Charles Dickens.
Forget cream teas and picturesque villages, this is a Cornwall of a dark and murky past, when poverty and callousness were rife.
Our main character, Mary Blight, is a young woman of dubious character who rescues a man, Gideon Stone,from drowning. Their lives become entwined as she schemes to raise herself to a better more prosperous life. Although love is at the heart of their story, it cannot be called a romance, it is too dark and dismal for that. She believes that Gideon is the answer to escaping her life of drudgery.
This is not a story full of action and adventure, indeed some parts are rather dwelt upon overlong. The description of the Wreckers scavenging the shipwreck is quite shocking at the start.The story is mainly concerned with Mary's relationship with Gideon and her fight for survival in the village.... Read Full Review
‘Compelling’ Sunday Times A powerful debut exploring the dark side of Cornwall – the wrecking and the drowned sailors – where poverty drove villagers to dark deeds… Shipwrecks are part of life in the remote village of Porthmorvoren, Cornwall. And as the sea washes the bodies of the drowned onto the beach, it also brings treasures: barrels of liquor, exotic fruit, the chance to lift a fine pair of boots from a corpse, maybe even a jewel or two. When, after a fierce storm, Mary Blight rescues a man half-dead from the sea, she ignores the whispers of her neighbours and carries him home to nurse better. Gideon Stone is a Methodist minister from Newlyn, a married man. Touched by Mary’s sacrifice and horrified by the superstitions and pagan beliefs the villagers cling to, Gideon sets out to bring light and salvation to Porthmorvoren by building a chapel on the hill. But the village has many secrets and not everyone wants to be saved. As Mary and Gideon find themselves increasingly drawn together, jealousy, rumour and suspicion is rife. Gideon has demons of his own to face, and soon Mary’s enemies are plotting against her… Gripping, beautifully written and utterly beguiling, Noel O’Reilly’s debut WRECKER is a story of love, injustice, superstition and salvation, set against Cornwall’s dark past.
Wrecker features in the following genres: Historical Fiction, Books with reviews by our Reader Review Panel, Debut Books of the Month, Debuts, eBooks of the Month, Fiction, Recommendations
Wrecker is available in Paperback, Hardback
Wrecker was written by Noel O'Reilly and published by HQ an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
Wrecker has 320 pages
