Moonfleet

When fifteen-year-old John Trenchard discovers a secret passage into the vault of the powerful Mohune family, his peaceful life in the Dorset village of Moonfleet is at an end. It is said that Captain Mohune, the notorious Blackbeard, haunts the place with wild and bloodcurdling cries, forever seeking his hidden treasure. As John sets off in a search of that treasure, a fabled diamond, he becomes caught up in the dangerous coastal smuggling runs and is forced to flee the country in the company of Elzevir Block, the man who is to become like a father to him. From echoing vaults and stormy seas to dank dungeons and deep wells, the suspense of John’s search for hidden treasure is thrillingly evoked in this fully dramatised classic adventure, starring Robert Glenister and James Laurenson.

2 CDs. 1 hr 30 mins.

John Meade Falkner was born in Wiltshire in 1858. He worked as a teacher at Derby school, and climbed through the ranks of a large Newcastle arms manufacturer to become its director in 1901, after working for the company founder as his family's tutor for many years. After retiring in 1926, Falkner became honorary librarian to the dean and chapter of Durham Cathedral. He wrote three novels including Moonfleet (1898), as well as publishing a volume of poetry (Poems, 1933) and a pocket history of Oxfordshire. J. Meade Falkner died on July 22, 1932.