The Life of a Smuggler

By Helen Hollick

‘Brandy for the parson, baccy for the clerk…’We have an image, mostly from movies and novels, of a tall ship riding gently at anchor in a moonlit, secluded bay with the ‘Gentleman’ cheerfully hauling kegs of brandy and tobacco ashore, then disappearing silently into the night shadows to hide their contraband from the excise men in a dark cave or a secret cellar.But how much of the popular idea is fact and how much is fiction?Smuggling was big business – it still is – but who were these derring-do rebels of the past who went against paying taxes on the importation of luxury goods? Who purchased the illicit contraband? How did smugglers operate? Where were the most notorious locations? Was it profitable, or just an inevitable path to arrest and the hangman’s noose?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pen and Sword
• Release date: Jan 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781526727145

Helen Hollick

After an exciting Lottery win on the opening night of the 2012 London Olympic Games, Helen Hollick moved from a North-East London suburb to an eighteenth century farmhouse in North Devon, where she lives with her husband, daughter and son-in-law, and a variety of pets and animals, which include several moorland-bred Exmoor ponies. Her study overlooks part of the Taw Valley, where the main road runs from Exeter to Barnstaple, and back in the 1600s troops of the English Civil Wars marched to and from battle. There are several friendly ghosts sharing the house and farm, and Helen regards herself as merely a temporary custodian of the lovely old house, not its owner. First published in 1994, her passion, now, is her pirate character, Captain Jesamiah Acorne of the nautical adventure series, The Sea Witch Voyages, which have been snapped up by US-based, independent publisher, Penmore Press. Helen became a USA Today Bestseller with her historical novel, The Forever Queen (titled A Hollow Crown in the UK) the story of Saxon Queen, Emma of Normandy. Her novel Harold the King (titled I Am The Chosen King in the US) explores the events that led to the 1066 Battle of Hastings, while her Pendragon's Banner Trilogy, set in the fifth century, is widely acclaimed as a more historical version of the Arthurian legend, with no magic, no Lancelot, Merlin or Holy Grail, but instead, the 'what might have happened' story of the boy who became a man, who became a king, who became a legend... Helen is also published in various languages including German, Turkish and Italian.