A Handful of Coins

A Handful of Coins

A review of A Handful Of Coins by Robert Caverhill Jones

Published on October 1, 2008

A Handful Of Coins
Robert Caverhill Jones

Shoreline Press
$22.95
paper
250pp
978-1-896754-61-1

Billed as being “in the rich tradition of Robert Louis Stevenson,” this tale of smugglers, set in 1927 on a rugged coast, does not disappoint. Tommy Barraclough, the protagonist, is a young man who yearns to get away from his poverty-stricken fishing village and his unhappy family. He grabs an opportunity when he intercepts a suspicious package in a tavern brawl and has to run for his life. Tommy is immediately caught in the middle of a gang war, meets a travelling circus, and leaves a boring life for one rich in adventure. The characters are larger than life, the mystery is intriguing, and the reader is carried along helter-skelter by the pace of the tale. And, as in every good adventure story, there is a happy ending. mRb

Margaret Goldik is a former editor of the Montreal Review of Books.

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