Читать книгу Seduced by the Scoundrel - Louise Allen - Страница 6

Once I had chosen the treacherous seas around the Isles of Scilly as the setting for the wreck of the Bengal Queen, right at the end of her three-month voyage from India, I knew I had to go there to experience the islands for myself.

The heroine of this novel was going to be washed ashore on one of the uninhabited islands—but which one? On the Scillies small boats take the place of cars and buses, and I spent a happy week in the sunshine—criss-crossing from island to island, waving at seals, walking on sand so fine it was exported for use to blot ink in the eighteenth century. Finally I chose St Helen’s, with its tiny old isolation hospital—a perfect base for the mysterious and dangerous man who will rescue Averil Heydon when she is washed, naked, onto the beach at his feet.

While I was there I was privileged to see the wonderful pilot gigs racing—their speed and the distances they can cover have not been exaggerated in this book. However, I have taken liberties with the Governor of the islands at the time, whose name and family are entirely imaginary and bear no resemblance to the real Governor.