CORNISH author Victoria Cornwall, who lives on Bodmin Moor, is celebrating the release of her debut novel ‘The Thief’s Daughter’.

The book is a wonderfully evocative, historical novel set in eighteenth-century Cornwall.

In The Thief’s Daughter, Ms Cornwall expertly depicts the rugged Cornish coastline; an area blighted by debt and poverty, swarming with smugglers and overshadowed by an enduring fear of the hangman’s noose.

This provides a compelling backdrop to the story of heroine ‘Jenna’ and her struggle to reconcile her family’s criminal past with a resolve to always be good.

Eighteenth-century Cornwall is crippled by debt and poverty, while the gibbet casts a shadow of fear over the land. Yet, when night falls, free traders swarm onto the beaches and smuggling prospers.

Terrified by a thief-taker’s warning as a child, Jenna has resolved to be good. When her brother, ‘Silas’, asks for her help to pay his creditors, Jenna feels unable to refuse and finds herself entering the dangerous world of the smuggling trade.

Jack Penhale hunts down the smuggling gangs in revenge for his father’s death. Drawn to Jenna at a hiring fayre, they discover their lives are entangled.

But as Jenna struggles to decide where her allegiances lie, the world of justice and crime collide, leading to danger and heartache for all concerned.

Ms Cornwall can trace her Cornish roots as far back as the eighteenth-century and her knowledge of and love for the area she grew up in shines through in The Thief’s Daughter to make it a truly unforgettable and immersive reading experience.

Ms Cornwall grew up on a dairy farm in Cornwall. It is her background and heritage that have inspired her to write her ‘Cornish based novels’.

She writes historical fiction with a strong background story, but at its heart, just like in The Thief’s Daughter, there is the unmistakable emotion, even pain, of loving someone.

Following a fulfilling 25 year career as a nurse, a chance in profession finally allowed her more time to write, She us a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Historical Novel Society.

The Thief’s Daughter is her debut novel and the first in her series of Cornish based novels.