Wrecker

Shortlisted for the 2019 WHSmith Thumping Good Read Award

A powerful debut exploring the dark side of Cornwall – the wrecking and the drowned sailors – where poverty drove the villagers to dark deeds…

Published by Harper Collins HQ

Hardback: July 2018

Paperback: March 2019

Reviews

‘Compelling’ – Sunday Times

‘Written with a blazing energy and a Gothic edge, this portrait of 19th-century Cornwall is a cracker.’ Daily Mail

‘Noel O’Reilly’s lyrical writing brilliantly evokes the struggles of life in such a dramatic setting, as well as the hypocrisy and jealousy of society and Church.’ Sunday Express

‘full of secrets, suspicions and rumour’ Woman & Home

‘With perfect prose, a fast-paced, intricate plot, and Mary, this is fiction of a literary standard that can’t fail to please the reader.’ MyWeekly

‘Powerful, evocative, tingling with tension and beautifully written, Wrecker is a masterful first novel… ‘ Burnley Express

‘Noel O’Reilly conjures the spectacle of disintegrating ships and the gruesome business of scavengers picking at corpses washed ashore in this story about smugglers and wreckers in a Cornish fishing village.’ MAIL ONLINE

‘With echoes of Du Maurier, this compelling Cornish drama weaves a tangled web of fallen faiths, of sins, seductions and deceits.’ Essie Fox

‘A gripping historical tale. Laced with Cornwall and menace in equal measure. I loved it.’ Liz Fenwick

‘Intense and immersive. It totally swept me away.’ Nicola Cornick