The Devil and the Loch Ard Gorge

By Leanbh Pearson

Seána McKinnon, daughter of a well-to-do London businessman and his wife, finds love in the arms of a lowly artist. Her parent's disapproval of their relationship lays heavy on her heart until, borne of frustration, she makes a bargain with the Devil that will be with her for all her years.

 

When she flees Gravesend on the ill-fated Loch Ard, dark shadows sail with her.

 

Will Seána ever be free of the horrors that defile her past and haunt her future?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Black Hare Press
• Release date: May 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223726074

Book preview

The Devil and the Loch Ard Gorge

Leanbh Pearson

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Black Hare Press

THE DEVIL AND THE LOCH ARD GORGE is Copyright © 2022 Leanbh Pearson

First published in Australia in October 2022 by Black Hare Press

The author retains the copyright of the works featured in this publication.

All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this production may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher and copyright owner.

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Edited by D. Kershaw

Formatting by Ben Thomas

Cover design by Dawn Burdett

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Connect: linktr.ee/blackharepress

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Contents

. Chapter

1. Prologue

2. Chapter One

3. Chapter Two

4. Chapter Three

5. Chapter Four

6. Chapter Five

7. Chapter Six

8. Chapter Seven

9. Chapter Eight

10. Chapter Nine

11. Epilogue

12. Leanbh Pearson

13. Black Hare Press

Coming Soon from Black Hare Press

For the one who has my heart.

This has always been for you.

L.P.

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Prologue

The Loch Ard Gorge, 1898

My name is Seána McKinnon, and I nearly died the night the Loch Ard sank. But you’ll not find my name among those listed on the Loch Ard ’s official manifest, and there’s no mention of a third survivor that night. Over fifty men, women, and children were aboard when she sank, the icy waters off the Victorian colony taking all but two—a cabin boy by the name of Tom Pearce, and Irishwoman, Eva Carmichael, both surviving the treacherous waters to find shelter in its sandy cove. Tom’s heroics raised the alarm, and the full tragedy of the Loch Ard revealed. Since that night, the gorge became known for the ship that it sank. A name whispered with fear and sorrow: the Loch Ard Gorge.

But there’s a darker tale woven so tightly through that fateful voyage, it’s hard to see where one ends and the other begins. That tale is mine, one of curses and ill-luck, one that saw fifty innocent lives drowned at sea. For Devil take me,