It is the end of the 18th century and the end of schooling for four Cornish youngsters. They share their aspirations for the future, not realising there is a price to be paid. Cornwall is the land of mystery, legends, folktale and myths. Tiny villages with narrow winding streets nestle around rocky cover ideal for landing and distributing contraband. The fishermen are dependent upon the sea in all its moods and are forced to subsidise their catch with smuggled French brandy, tobacco, tea, and silk. The only other possible occupations, the tin mines and the farmed estates, are in the hands of the wealthy few, like Lord Trevelyan. For most Cornishmen life is harsh. To fulfil her own hopes of a better life, one young girl Karenza, discovers there are secrets to be concealed and seemingly impossible promises to be honoured, played out against an austere and merciless Cornish landscape and the ongoing hostility of the French.
Christine Baldock was born in Liverpool and emigrated to America with her family at the age of sixteen. After eight years, one of which was spent attending the University of California at Berkeley, she returned to the UK and married her childhood sweetheart. A holiday in Cornwall gave Christine a life-long passion for the West Country. They decided to move there and enjoyed fourteen years living close to the coast not far from Penzance. Christine and her husband, Tony, now reside in the west of Ireland.