Moonfleet
1898
Moonfleet is a treasure-hunt and a tale of friendship that burns itself into memory. Fifteen-year-old John Trenchard, orphaned and restless, lives in a smugglers' village on the Dorset coast where the cliffs hide secrets and the sea keeps its own counsel. When he discovers a cryptic clue to Colonel John Mohune's lost fortune, he falls into a dangerous world of moonlight runs, revenue men, and the legend of Blackbeard, whose ghostly reputation haunts these shores. But the true heart of the novel lies in John's unlikely bond with Elzevir Block, the grim innkeeper who becomes father, protector, and finally, sacrifice. Falkner writes with the precision of a poet and the urgency of a pulp serial: each chapter ends on a knife's edge. The Dorset landscape becomes a character in itself, its fog and chalk and cavernous darkness shaping every moment of dread and wonder. This is not merely an adventure for boys. It is a story about what we risk for those we love, and what we owe to the dead.
Editions
X-Ray
“We thought there was no more behind But such a day tomorrow as today And to be a boy eternal.””
— John Meade Falkner
“As in life, so in a game of hazard, skill will make something of the worst of throws.””
— John Meade Falkner
“Have a care how you touch the treasure; it was evilly come by, and will bring a curse with it.””
— John Meade Falkner
“Thou [John] art my diamond, and I would rather lose all other diamonds in the world than aught should come to thee. So, if thou doubtest, let me go, or let not any go at all.””
— John Meade Falkner
“Latin for those who know that tongue, Ita in vita ut in lusu alae pessima jactura arte corrigenda est, and in English as Mr. Glennie translated it, As in life, so in a game of hazard, skill will make something of the worst of throws.””
— John Meade Falkner
“So sleeps the pride of former days”
— John Meade Falkner
“Maskew got ugly looks from the men, and sour words from the wives, as he went up through the village that afternoon,””
— John Meade Falkner
“¡Ah, dulce infancia! ¡Cómo ansiamos librarnos de ti cuando somos niños y con cuánto pesar te contemplamos una vez te hemos dejado atrás y hemos llegado apenas a la mitad de esta carrera que es la vida humana!””
— John Meade Falkner
“إنني مستعد أن أفقد كل مجوهرات العالم، ولا أفقدك أنت.””
— John Meade Falkner
