While walking through a cliff-top graveyard in the town of Morwenstow on the coast of Cornwall, the author encounters a wooden Scottish figurehead that once adorned the Caledonia, a ship wrecked on the English coast in 1842. Through further investigation, Seal begins to suspect the townspeople, and chiefly the town's parson, Robert Hawker, for the Caledonia's demise on the jagged shores below. Though no one has ever been brought to court for "wrecking"-luring ships ashore to loot the cargo-it's a commonly held belief that this sort of cruelty did take place. But, is that what happened in Morwenstow?
Having meticulously researched maritime logs, broadsides of the day, and other first-hand documents, Seal weaves history, travelogue, and imaginative reconstruction into this marvelous piece of detective work, bringing us a mystery of the best kind-the sort that really did happen.
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Book Description:
Published in hardcover by Harcourt, 2001, 0-15-100524-9
About the Author:
Jeremy Seal has written for numerous English newspapers. His first book, A Fez of the Heart, which was chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of the best books of the year, was based on his experiences as a teacher in Turkey. His second book, The Snakebite Survivors' Club, was published to much acclaim. He lives in Bath, England, with his wife and daughter.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherHoughton Mifflin Harcourt
- Publication date2001
- ISBN 10 0151005249
- ISBN 13 9780151005246
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages328
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