The Wreckers

A storm at sea, smugglers, murder, mystery and intrigue--this adventure story has it all. Teenaged John Spencer is enjoying his first voyage aboard one of his father's merchant ships when they're tricked into wrecking the ship along the wild coast of Cornwall during a brutal storm. This was no accident, and John must learn the truth about this strange community in order to save his father's life. Ron Keith navigates this terrain of cruelty and despair with subtle nuance, bringing the various characters to life with his careful rendering of their accents, genders and ages. In the end, John discovers that there is little that is only right or only wrong, and Keith conveys this message with his voice as well as with Lawrence's words. An exciting, powerful story is narrated with great skill and assurance. S.G. (c) AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine

Starred review from May 4, 1998
First-time novelist Lawrence gives a nod to Robert Louis Stevenson in a fast-paced, atmospheric yarn that will have adventure buffs glued to their seats. Author of two adult books on sailing, Lawrence paints a minutely observed picture of maritime life in 1799 Cornwall, where whole villages made a living by plundering ships they'd lured onto the jagged rocks of their storm-swept coastline. One such vessel is the Isle of Skye, owned by the father of 14-year-old narrator John Spencer, a Londoner who narrowly escapes drowning only to see a shipmate murdered by one of the wreckers. John goes in search of his missing father and stumbles across Stumps, a legless villain as terrifying as they come, who hints about a cache of gold and makes dark threats on his and his father's lives. Not knowing whom he can trust, John has to feel his way through a web of intrigue and treachery before time runs out for his father--and himself. From the evocative jacket painting of a moonlit shipwreck to the superb characterizations, hair-raising plot and authentic period details, Lawrence's fiction is first-rate. Ages 10-14.