Moonfleet

A fifteenth-century Dorset fishing village, its cliffs shrouded in smuggling mist, becomes the stage for John Trenchard's descent into a world where nothing is as it seems. Orphaned and adrift, John stumbles into the secret crypt beneath the church and finds himself trapped behind a coffin belonging to the mysterious Colonel Mohune, only to be rescued by the very men he fears. Elzevir Block, the innkeeper of the Why Not?, becomes his reluctant guardian, and through him John is drawn into the dangerous fraternity of the smuggling trade, led by the enigmatic Blackbeard. But the true stakes are higher than contraband: a family secret, a hidden locket, and the terrible truth about the ghost of Mohune will force John to choose between loyalty and justice, between the man who saved his life and the truth that could destroy them both. Falkner weaves a tale of adventure, atmosphere, and aching tenderness about a boy who must become a man in a world where the law is as merciless as the sea.