#BlogTour #BookReview The Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan by Cynthia Jefferies @AllisonandBusby @cindyjefferies1

Outrageous Fortune BT Poster

I’m delighted to be hosting today’s stop on the blog tour for The Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan by Cynthia Jefferies alongside my tour buddy, Amy at Passages to the Past. The Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan was published in paperback on 22nd August 2019 and is also available in hardcover and as an e-book.

Thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Allison and Busby for my review copy. I hope you enjoy reading my review of The Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan. Look out for more reviews by the fabulous book bloggers also hosting stops on the tour.


The Outrageous Fortune of Abel MorganAbout the Book

1660, England. War is at an end, yet for Christopher Morgan his personal conflict rages on. Haunted by the tragic death of his wife, Christopher is desperate to escape the pain her memory brings, although looking into the eyes of his young son, Abel, he cannot help but be reminded of what he has lost. Over time, father and son develop a strong bond until they are callously torn apart when Abel is snatched by smugglers and sold overseas.

From the shores of Constantinople to the coast of Jamaica, time and tide keep them apart. Christopher will sail across oceans to find Abel, never losing faith that one day they will be reunited, and, as the years pass, Abel will learn that fortune favours the brave.

Format: Paperback (384 pp.)    Publisher: Allison & Busby
Published: 22nd August 2019     Genre: Historical Fiction

Purchase Links*
Publisher | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Hive
*link provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan on Goodreads


My Review

Alternating between events from the point of view of Christopher and his son, Abel (the latter told in first person), The Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan involves epic globetrotting adventures. The story is like a spirited mashup of Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Moonfleet and Pirates of the Caribbean. Along the way, there’s an encounter with a mysterious and malevolent stranger, a trader in information who, although playing a role in both Abel’s and Christopher’s lives, doesn’t feature in quite the significant way I expected.

It’s hard not to feel sympathy for Christopher, in despair at the death of his wife and the unexplained disappearance of his beloved son whom he fears may be either dead or enslaved. His feelings of guilt at the course of events cause him to indulge in a lot of soul searching as he travels the world in the hope of finding his son. Christopher even finds it difficult to recognize his own good nature when performing charitable deeds towards others.

Despite initial indications to the contrary, Abel does become the recipient of ‘outrageous’ good fortune, partly down to luck and partly down to several bold moves on his part as well as a willingness to grasp opportunities. Towards the end of the book, when it appears he has everything he should want from life, some of the actions he takes seem quite out of character and he became somewhat harder to like.

The story takes the reader from the moorland village of Dario in the West Country – the location of the splendidly named Rumfustian Inn and the haunt of smugglers – to the court of Charles II, to the maze-like streets and minarets of Constantinople, to Ireland and the Caribbean island of Jamaica. At times, I felt the pace of the book as a whole didn’t quite match the intensity of some of the action-packed scenes depicted, such as those involving Abel’s privateering adventures in the Caribbean.

Featuring smugglers, pirates, narrow escapes from death, joy, despair and every emotion in between, The Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan is a spirited, globetrotting historical adventure.

In three words: Lively, entertaining, adventure

Try something similar: The Traitor of Treasure Island by John Drake (read my review here)

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Cynthia JefferiesAbout the Author

Cynthia Jefferies is a long-established writer for children, whose work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. She was born in Gloucestershire and her love of history was encouraged by regular family outings to anything of interest, from great cathedrals to small museums. Having moved to Scotland and back to Stroud, she has always made time to write and her abiding interest in Restoration England has never left her. The Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan is her first historical novel for adults.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

 

WWW Wednesdays – 21st August ‘19

 

WWWWednesdays

Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too?  Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!


Currently reading

The Outrageous Fortune of Abel MorganThe Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan by Cynthia Jeffries (ebook, courtesy of Allison & Busby and Random Things Tours)

1660, England. War is at an end, yet for Christopher Morgan his personal conflict rages on. Haunted by the tragic death of his wife, Christopher is desperate to escape the pain her memory brings, although looking into the eyes of his young son, Abel, he cannot help but be reminded of what he has lost.

Over time, father and son develop a strong bond until they are callously torn apart when Abel is snatched by smugglers and sold overseas. From the shores of Constantinople to the coast of Jamaica, time and tide keep them apart. Christopher will sail across oceans to find Abel, never losing faith that one day they will be reunited, and, as the years pass, Abel will learn that fortune favours the brave.

the mathematical bridgeThe Mathematical Bridge by Jim Kelly (hardcover, review copy courtesy of Allison & Busby)

Cambridge, 1940. It is the first winter of the war, and snow is falling. When an evacuee drowns in the river, his body swept away, Detective Inspector Eden Brooke sets out to investigate what seems to be a deliberate attack. The following night, a local electronics factory is attacked, and an Irish republican slogan is left at the scene. The IRA are campaigning to win freedom for Ulster, but why has Cambridge been chosen as a target? And when Brooke learns that the drowned boy was part of the close-knit local Irish Catholic community, he begins to question whether there may be a connection between the boy’s death and the attack at the factory. As more riddles come to light, can Brooke solve the mystery before a second attack claims a famous victim?


Recently finished (click on title for review)

The Tides BetweenThe Tides Between by Elizabeth Jane Corbett (ebook, courtesy of the author and Odyssey Books)

In 1841, on the eve of her departure from London, Bridie’s mother demands she forget her dead father and prepare for a sensible, adult life in Port Phillip. Desperate to save her childhood, fifteen-year-old Bridie is determined to smuggle a notebook filled with her father’s fairy tales to the far side of the world.

When Rhys Bevan, a soft-voiced young storyteller and fellow traveller realises Bridie is hiding something, a magical friendship is born. But Rhys has his own secrets and the words written in Bridie’s notebook carry a dark double meaning.

As they inch towards their destination, Rhys’s past returns to haunt him. Bridie grapples with the implications of her dad’s final message. The pair take refuge in fairy tales, little expecting the trouble it will cause.

Ike and KayIke and Kay by James MacManus (ebook, courtesy of Duckworth Books)

In 1942, Cork-born Kay Summersby’s life is changed forever when she is tasked with driving General Eisenhower on his fact-finding visit to wartime London. Despite Eisenhower’s marriage to Mamie, the pair takes an immediate liking to one another and he gifts Kay a rare wartime luxury: a box of chocolates.

So begins a tumultuous relationship that against all military regulation sees Kay travelling with Eisenhower on missions to far flung places before the final assault on Nazi Germany. She becomes known as “Ike’s shadow” and in letters Mamie bemoans his new obsession with ‘Ireland’. That does not stop him from using his influence to grant Kay US citizenship and rank in the US army, drawing her closer when he returns to America. When the US authorities discover Eisenhower’s plans to divorce from his wife they threaten the fragile but passionate affair and Kay is forced to take desperate measures to hold onto the man she loves…


What Cathy (will) Read Next

The Stationmaster's DaughterThe Stationmaster’s Daughter by Kathleen McGurl (ebook, courtesy of HQ Digital and Rachel’s Random Resources)

As the last train leaves, will life ever be the same?

Dorset, 1935 – Stationmaster Ted has never cared much for romance. Occupied with ensuring England’s most beautiful railway runs on time, love has always felt like a comparatively trivial matter. Yet when he meets Annie Galbraith on the 8.42 train to Lynford, he can’t help but instantly fall for her.

But when the railway is forced to close and a terrible accident occurs within the station grounds, Ted finds his job and any hope of a relationship with Annie hanging in the balance…

Present day – Recovering from heartbreak after a disastrous marriage, Tilly decides to escape from the bustling capital and move to Dorset to stay with her dad, Ken.  When Ken convinces Tilly to help with the restoration of the old railway, she discovers a diary hidden in the old ticket office. Tilly is soon swept up in Ted’s story, and the fateful accident that changed his life forever.

But an encounter with an enigmatic stranger takes Tilly by surprise, and she can’t help but feel a connection with Ted’s story in the past…