A Smuggler's Taleis a hearty read

Andy, who has lived in Hastings for 20 years, is a former police officer, who now works as a security contractor in the UK and overseas. He says his inspiration for the book came after visiting the Smugglers Adventure Experience, and he thought there was a great human story to be written about what happened there. “It is a story about two soldiers, Daniel and Ralph, who have fought in the British Army in the Napoleonic Wars,” he said. “They return to their home town of Hastings at the end of the war hoping to return to normal life. Instead they experience rejection, poverty and misery. In their absence, smugglers now ruled the town and everyone was in on it, except magistrate, Sir John Rutherford.

“With no money, jobs or shelter and Ralph injured from his time at war, Daniel and Ralph join the smugglers’ gang, but will their conscience get the better of them, or will Daniel’s love for the daughter of vicious gang leader, Dobson, prevail? “With Sir John on a mission to stop Dobson and return order to Hastings, what will become of Daniel and Ralph? Will their friendship withstand these testing times and would they survive this battle?”

The Smuggler’s Tale costs £7.99 at bookstores or online.

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