The Penguin Podcast is back! Listen Now
The Smuggler’s Secret

The Smuggler’s Secret

Summary

Born into grinding poverty, young Freddie Musgrave relies on his wits to survive and help feed his family. He earns a few shillings by navigating his little boat across the swift-flowing waters of the Tyne, running messages and smuggling goods between the busy seaports on either side of the river and evading the customs agents.

Luck is on his side . . . until the night he witnesses something truly horrific. In a supremely brave act he saves a life – and changes his own forever.

Gaining the patronage of Maggie Hewitt, a sea captain’s daughter, Freddie is able to shape a future he can be proud of. But the threats of the past won’t stay buried and the dark events of that distant night have cast a long and dangerous shadow…

Catherine Cookson was the original and bestselling saga writer, selling over 100 million copies of her novels. If you like Dilly Court, Katie Flynn or Donna Douglas, you'll love Catherine Cookson.

Reviews

  • Queen of raw family romances
    Telegraph

About the author

Catherine Cookson

Catherine Cookson was born in Tyne Dock, the illegitimate daughter of a poverty-stricken woman, Kate, whom she believed to be her older sister. She began work in service but eventually moved south to Hastings, where she met and married Tom Cookson, a local grammar-school master. Although she was originally acclaimed as a regional writer - her novel The Round Tower won the Winifred Holtby Award for the best regional novel of 1968 - her readership quickly spread throughout the world, and her many best-selling novels established her as one of the most popular of contemporary women novelists. After receiving an OBE in 1985, Catherine Cookson was created a Dame of the British Empire in 1993. She was appointed an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford, in 1997. For many years she lived near Newcastle upon Tyne. She died shortly before her ninety-second birthday, in June 1998.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more