Genre

Historical Fiction

Audience

Adults & Highschool Students

Author’s Worldview

Catholic

Year Published

2025

Themes

redemption, satire, 19th century, Cornwall, shipwreckers

 

Reviewed by

Courtney Guest Kim

On the surface, The Wrecker’s Daughter is a rollicking adventure, featuring a reprobate anti-heroine, Hannah Pendarves, who emerges from an awful family of robber-murderers to work her way to a mostly undeserved redemption. The story has a witty narrative perspective on events that are not laughing matters: this novel’s primary concern is neither romance nor realism. Scratch the surface, and you find a satire in the classic English tradition. It has some of the humor of Roald Dahl; a dash of social commentary in the vein of  W. M. Thackeray; and, undergirding all, a moral concern that hearkens back to Swift. 

Although the setting is 19th-century Cornwall, the post-Christian amorality of Hannah and her apostate community, St. Rose, is strikingly reminiscent of ordinary, respectable people today. The cheerful conflation of easy religiosity, casual brutality and unwitting heresy, along with the total absence of anything that could be described as conscience make the inhabitants of St. Rose more postmodern than Victorian. It’s not until Hannah leaves St. Rose for Falmouth (for nefarious purposes, of course) that she slowly becomes aware that there is such a thing as living for a higher principle than self-interest.

What is really fascinating about Hannah’s trajectory is that it explores the possible spiritual transformation of exactly the sort of people who seem utterly impervious to repentance. When Hannah assumes the role of traitor in the household of a genuinely good man, Francis Keverne, we get to see what principled people look like to those who prey upon them. But for all her wickedness, neither Hannah nor her kindred are completely evil. The Wrecker’s Daughter offers a complex, nuanced analysis of the motives and delusions of people who do very bad things for reasons that, however twisted, are still understandable. 

Hannah does care about the people whom she considers to be her community. And she does have a form of worship that is in effect pagan, but she was trained in this belief from childhood and has never had reason to question it. When Francis Keverne informs her that the Bible verse she has lived by is not found anywhere in Scripture, she begins to come to terms with a terrible realization: the culture that has formed her is completely corrupt. 

Beneath Hannah’s warped outlook and violent behaviors are seeds of self-sacrifice and reverence. Slowly, the good in her begins to wrestle with the evil habits and false teaching that have governed her whole life. As she begins to apprehend that there is a higher truth, she also begins to realize how terrible her own behavior has been. This is a bleak and frightful dawning for anyone who has ever experienced it, and The Wrecker’s Daughter, although fanciful in many respects, is completely realistic at the level of human motive and intention. For Hannah, there is no possibility of escape into romantic wish-fulfillment. Despite or perhaps because of the surface levity, the narrative achieves an impressive feat. It reveals the stark choice between damnation or redemption that resides within behaviors considered normal by one’s social group. In the end, love is the mysterious transforming power that allows for good to triumph over evil, and grace has the final word.

The Reluctant Queen: The Story of Esther by Lin Wilder

Chosen by Xerxes to be queen, chosen by God to be savior of His people: the story of Esther.

The Fire of Eden (The Harwood Mysteries Book 3) by Antony Barone Kolenc

The mystery of a stolen treasure might hold the key to Xan’s discernment about whether God is calling him to the priesthood or to Lucy.

Books to Pray With, March: For the New Martyrs

Every month in 2024 Pope Francis has a monthly prayer intention. Every month we will release a book list that will draw your heart and soul deeper into prayer on these topics.

The Mission of Joan Of Arc by Philip Kosloski, Alexandre Nascimento, and Jesse Hansen

Voyage Comics’ dynamic interpretation of the Life of Joan of Arc is based on the play written by St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas

Would you die for a flower? Would you kill for one? Providence, romance, and danger rule in this tense, heart-warming prison romance.

Brother Wolf by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson

Swept into a werewolf hunt with two nuns, a dashing guardian and a jolly priest, Athene Howard applies her intellectual skills to unravel this mysterious new Papist world.

Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang

This two part graphic novel tells its story from 2 sides China’s bloody civil war: A Boxer Rebel & a “traitor” Christian-Convert.

Lance and the Veil by Kevin Rush

She was Christ’s comforter, he, his executioner. Can the two find love in each other’s arms?

A Pius Man by Declan Finn

A hilarious espionage action adventure in the Vatican. Also a halberd fight scene. Nuff Said.

The Book of Jotham by Arthur Powers

Experience Christ through the eyes of Jotham, his disabled disciple.

Finnian and the Seven Mountains (Vol. 1) by Philip Koslowski, Michael Lavoy, and Jim Fern

Join Finnian as his quest for a legendary sword takes him to the monks of Skellig Michael, a real life inspiration for the Jedi temple.

Playing by Heart by Carmela Martino

In this historical drama, Emilia longs for a love as beautiful as her sonata, but the ambitions of her father put her and her sister in great danger. Winner of our 2018 Best of the Year Awards.

The Table by Dennis Lambert

A table built by the grandfather of Jesus Christ survives the darkest moment in history to bring peace to a widowed musician

Silence by Shusaku Endo

The story that introduced faith to one of the most secular nations on Earth

North Pacific: A Story of Life, Love, Suffering, and Grace by Michael Steffan

Joseph & Miku’s love was already illegal. Then WWII began. Now home, disabled, and questioning God’s love, he still searches for her.

From Afar by Roger Thomas

Three astronomers follow the stars in a search for order and meaning. An action adventure based on the three wise men of the Gospels.

Officers and Gentlemen by Evelyn Waugh

Evelyn Waugh’s brilliant examination of the moral fatigue of men at war.

My Name is Saul by Lin Wilder

How does a man become a monster? How does a monster become a saint?

In Pieces by Rhonda Ortiz

Is a marriage without love the only way to save Molly Chase’s reputation?

Messina: Book 1, The Casa Bella Chronicles By Liz Galvano

Romance blossoms in the midst of chaos. A historical romance set in 1901 Italy as a young American doctor proves herself to the haughty Italian lord who has forgotten his faith.