FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE : Aug 2016

Seaside Books, Saltburn

Email contact: seasidebooks@outlook.com

Author contact : Chris Scott Wilson

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Website : www.chrisscottwilson.co.uk

attached : author photo

  : paperback book 197 pp

Category : Adventure / Historical

SUNSET BE GLORY

FACT AND FICTION INTERTWINED

Today 1st August 2016 Seaside Books of Saltburn-by-the-Sea release Sunset Be Glory in paperback by local author Chris Scott Wilson, whose last book was the successful Backstage Pass : Redcar Jazz Club, a collaboration with photographers Dennis Weller and Graham Lowe which elicited many memories of the 1960s for readers. This time Chris has switched to fiction, digging further back into the heritage of the Yorkshire coast, ranging from Teesmouth to Whitby, vividly portraying the lawless and swashbuckling lifestyle of the contraband runners 200 years ago…

Chris’ book blends fact and fiction, partially based on actual incidents in the life of Saltburn’s real ‘King of the Smugglers’. When his Britannic Majesty King George III’s government decided to mount an all-out assault  to stamp out smuggling, not least was the reason that Napoleon was desperate for coin to pay his armies who were fighting against England, so gave free passage to English smugglers to enter French ports. Because they paid for their illicit cargoes in gold, they played a part in enabling Napoleon to continue his rampage through Europe and beyond. That doubled the insult as the crown was already being deprived of tax revenues on legitimate goods,  let alone without financing the French war machine..

“It just seemed to be a pivotal point in our local history, “ says author Chris, “when the Tees valley was still agricultural and those on the coast eked a living from the sea. Within a few short years heavy industry would begin to cluster along the river and the landscape of Cleveland would be irreparably altered.”  But before that would happen there would be skirmishes on Yorkshire’s beaches as the King’s Riding Officers and army dragoons attempted to thwart the smugglers. There would be the clash of steel and the barking of muskets. Running battles at sea between the smugglers’ luggers and the King’s Revenue cutters. Wild midnight rides and narrow escapes, and not a few heads broken.

Richard John proudly called himself ‘a free trader’, and was damned if he would see his hard fought empire crumble. Valentine Rudd, taken under Richard John’s wing, would witness it all.

Sunset Be Glory by Chris Scott Wilson is available now in trade paperback (197 pp) price £8.99 from Waterstones Middlesbrough, The Book Corner Saltburn, Guisborough Bookshop, Whitby Bookshop, The Clock Gallery Redcar, Kirkleatham Museum Redcar, Worthy Pearson in Gt Ayton, Drake’s Bookshop in Stockton, Grosmont Bopokshop, Amazon.uk or visit the author’s website www.chrisscottwilson.co.uk

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