Yo Ho Ho! There Be Pirates a-Coming to Appledore and Instow

Do

you love pirates? Have you always wanted one of your own? Well now

is your chance as historical adventure writer Helen Hollick is

bringing her charming hero, pirate Jesamiah Acorne, to Appledore and

Instow in her newest book Ripples in the Sand.

Helen

conjured up the image of the charming Jesamiah as she wandered along

a beach in Dorset. The appeal of fictional pirates, says Helen is

“they are loveable rogues, Jesamiah is a bad boy turned good.”

“You wouldn’t fall for a real pirate!”

“My

Jesamiah” as Helen calls him is a charismatic pirate who is as real

to her as Johnny Depp is to the rest of us. Jesamiah has already

swashbuckled his way through three novels by Helen and is now about

to embark on his fourth adventure set in Appledore and Instow in

North Devon.

Helen

decided to bring Jesamiah from the

Caribbean to Appledore after visiting her copy editor, Jo Field, who

lives in Instow. Helen was so captivated by the area and its history

that she felt it would be a wonderful setting for her new book.

Helen

has been in Instow and Appledore this week, peering

through the modernity to the cobbles below and soaking up the olde

worlde atmosphere. When Jesamiah lands in Appledore in Ripples in

the Sand he stays in a tavern. Helen told me “I had already

decided to call the tavern in the story the Full Moon” and it was

one of those ‘shivers down the spine’ moments when she discovered

there had actually been a pub called the Full Moon in Appledore's

One End Street.

Bideford’s

historical connections with Virginia make it the perfect setting for

Ripples in the Sand. In the story Jesamiah

ships a cargo of tobacco from his plantation in Virginia, landing at

Appledore. Of course, being a rogue, he has illegal cargo stowed

away too which is bound to lead to adventure. As Helen says “trouble

follows Jesamiah like a ship’s wake.”

I

said goodbye to Helen as she gazed over to Appledore from Instow Quay

on a blustery autumn morning, breathing in inspiration from the sea

spray and stormy winds whispering stories of adventure, love and

treachery!

Ripples

in the Sand is due to be published in the

Spring of 2011 and if we’re lucky Helen will launch the book right

here in North Devon so polish up your cutlasses and don your tricorne

… here comes Jesamiah Acorne.