The Thief's Daughter

The Thief's Daughter is a stand alone novel by Victoria Cornwall.

Jenna Cartwright comes from a long line of smugglers and thieves in her family and has seen all of them disappear or arrested for their crimes. She is determined to remain honest and prove that all Cartwrights are not the same. She's suffered a marriage to an abusive man who ends up hung for being caught poaching. Her brother who has raised her since her parents disappeared is in debtors jail, and has begged her to help him pay off his debts. He wants her to steal, but she refuses, but she needs a job with a place to stay, so attends a mop fair (an old fashioned job fair if you like) where she hopes to be employed as a house keeper. She intends to use her wages to pay off her brother's debts. He on the other hand wants the money faster than that, and asks her to give up her good girl ways just enough to get the money.

Jack Penhale is a thief taker. A man who is employed to find and arrest people who have stolen from others. It was actually him who arrested Jenna's brother (not that she knows that). He sees Jenna at the mop fair and against his better judgement he hires her for one day in order to rescue her from being hired by a lecherous man who obviously wants her for more than her housekeeping services. He doesn't want her services and tells he so, but she insists on doing what she has been paid for, and she fully plans on convincing him to keep her on for at least a year.

Jack is in Cornwall to discover who is behind a nasty smuggling ring, he keeps what he is doing a secret from everyone including Jenna. She on the other hand has her own secrets, neither one of them trust each other, but despite that, there is an instant attraction between them that they both try to fight. His secrets and her secrets are intertwined little do they know, and it's going to lead to a showdown one way or another.

What follows is a story full of twists and turns, betrayal, near betrayal, life and death situations, and a wonderful blossoming romance that by rights could end in tears.

I thoroughly enjoyed the suspense of Jack trying to uncover the smugglers' boss, and then the shock of finding out who it was. The way the author describes the Cornish coast, and the way the smugglers use the coves to smuggle was fascinating, I could almost picture myself there. The romance between Jack and Jenna was so lovely to see develop and it was wonderful to read how passionate they became but without too much detail. It was very nicely done. From page one I was hooked on the storyline, and couldn't read quickly enough to find out how everything would be resolved. I wasn't disappointed. This book definitely had the wow factor for me, I really really loved it.

I voluntarily read an advanced readers' copy of this book.

This novel is set in Cornwall, England during the 18th Century. Jenna Cartwright belongs to a well known family of thieves, but she has morals and does not want to stoop to that kind of lifestyle. In order to disengage herself from her surname, she marries Henry Kestle. Unfortunately, she has to endure an abusive marriage until Henry, also a thief, is caught poaching and sentenced by Judge Buller to hang.

Jenna eventually becomes the housekeeper for Jack Penhale. Penhale is a thief taker, a man who is employed to find and arrest thieves. He is working incognito, trying to uncover who is at the head of the smuggling ring.

The relationship develops between Jenna and Jack. However, events unfold whereby neither believe that they can trust each other. Jack travels to Europe in a bid to find further evidence about the smuggling ring. Both are in danger, do they survive, are the smugglers captured?

A very enjoyable read with twists, turns and excellent characters. The author describes very well about smuggling in 18th century Cornwall. A great debut novel. I will be keeping an eye out for future novels by this author.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Choc-lit and the author, for providing me with a free eBook copy in return for my honest opinion.