By Julie Klassen
Bethany House, 2020
386 pages
Amazon Description: Set adrift on the tides of fate by the deaths of her parents and left wanting answers, Laura Callaway now lives with her uncle and his disapproving wife in North Cornwall. There she feels like a castaway, always viewed as an outsider even as she yearns to belong.
While wreckers search for valuables along the windswept Cornwall coast–known for its many shipwrecks but few survivors–Laura searches for clues to the lives lost so she can write letters to next of kin and return keepsakes to rightful owners. When a man is washed ashore after a wreck, Laura acts quickly to protect him from a local smuggler determined to destroy him.
As Laura and a neighbor care for the survivor, they discover he has curious wounds and, although he speaks in careful, educated English, his accent seems odd. Other clues wash ashore, and Laura soon realizes he is not who he seems to be. Despite the evidence against him, the mysterious man might provide her only chance to discover the truth about her parents’ fate. With danger pursuing them from every side, and an unexpected attraction growing between them, will Laura ever find the answers she seeks?
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I’ve been a fan of Julie Klassen’s books for a long time, so when I had the opportunity to be on the launch team for her newest book, A Castaway in Cornwall, I jumped on it! And I’m glad I did, because I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
A Castaway in Cornwall is a lovely, hopeful story about giving and receiving forgiveness, and about family honor and obligations. There are elements of intrigue, since there is a war going on and smuggling plays a big role in the community where Laura resides. And it is, ultimately, a love story with a happy ending.
The thing I probably liked the most about this book was the way Cornwall is portrayed almost as a character unto itself. There are descriptions of the landscape and explanations of the culture there. I didn’t know that the residents of Cornwall had their own local dialect! A big part of the culture in the particular town where the story takes place is foraging for shipwreck debris, since they are in a spot that isn’t kind to passing ships in poor weather, and how Laura’s approach to this differs significantly from most of the rest of the native residents of Cornwall.
I also liked that it wasn’t immediately obvious who Laura would be most interested in romantically. There are several eligible suitors, and quite a bit of match-making going on, so it was certainly not a love at first sight type of story. I like those types of stories, but I also enjoy a slow-burn where the heroine has to go on a journey to decide who or what she wants, and that’s what we get here.
A Castaway in Cornwall is a standalone novel and gets two thumbs up from me. I will continue to be an avid Julie Klassen fan and can’t wait to see what she comes out with next!
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