Helen Hollick · Fact and Fictions
Life of a Smuggler
"Brandy for the parson, baccy for the clerk..." We have an image, mostly from movies and novels, of a tall ship riding gently at anchor in a moonlit, secluded bay with the 'gentlemen' cheerfully hauling kegs of brandy and tobacco ashore, then disappearing silently into the night shadows.
But how much of the popular idea is fact and how much is fiction? Smuggling was big business - it still is - but who were these derring-do rebels of the past who went against paying taxes on the importation of luxury goods? How did smugglers operate? Where were the most notorious locations? Was it profitable, or just an inevitable path to arrest and the hangman's noose?
Available in hardback · ebook.
“Smugglers - the forgers of nations. My word, and I thought I knew all about smugglers. How wrong I was! A short but brilliant book, educational as well as entertaining.”
- Amazon reviewer
“Helen Hollick has it all! She tells a great story, and gets her history right.”
- Bernard Cornwell
“Helen Hollick's writing is very rich and lush. I'm very impressed.”
- Suzanne McLeod
“A master storyteller, sweeping the reader away to another time.”
- Historical Novel Society