Moonfleet is a family adventure story about John Trenchard, a boy whose curiosity accidentally leads him into smuggling escapades and on a treasure hunt. It’s a hard book to talk about, not because it’s bad or empty of event but because it is so great, and so self-contained in its greatness. A 90-minute BBC radio version was first broadcast in 1998 on BBC Radio Four, and starred Richard Pearce as John Trenchard, along with Robert Glenister and James Laurenson.

ORVILLE PRESCOTT (Aug 31, 1951). "Books of The Times: Comparison With Stevenson Many Chilling Adventures". New York Times. p.12. That I am drawn by excellent writing depicting seascapes is not surprising. What is unusual and surprising is the author’s ability to make plot events exciting and captivating to me. There are episodes that frighten the reader so we hold our breath in suspense—for example, crawling along a foot wide chalk path on a cliff with the sea thundering below. Making the situation even worse, John, the fifteen-year-old central character has a broken leg! This is but one example, but there are many! The prose, the author’s choice of words, puts the reader beside the protagonists! You are there. You are as frightened as John is. He doesn’t give up. What does this say about the boy?! And, what does this say about the relationship between the boy and the man he’s with? The events are related in the first person, a technique that reveals Meade’s skill in characterization for he is able to capture the maturation of John Trenchard and his development from naïve youth to a guilt-ridden and almost damaged adulthood. The psychological accuracy of this journey is one of the star elements of the book.

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Granger later said: "I hated working with Fritz Lang – he was a Kraut and it was a bloody awful film. I wanted to produce and act it in Cornwall and made them buy the book. MGM turned it into a big colour film. Moonfleet was not Lang's type of film – it is a romantic child's film. It wasn't a bad part." [14] With its enchanting prose and evocative storytelling, this timeless classic weaves a captivating tapestry of adventure, loyalty, and the pursuit of hidden truths.

Smugglers, betrayal, murder, love, avarice, it would be difficult to say what Falkner’s late 18th Century tale of adventure doesn’t have. In my opinion Moonfleet equals Stevenson’s or Twain’s works although it’s never quite received the same recognition. Then Parson Glennie visits and reveals he had received a letter from Aldobrand. The merchant, suffering a guilty conscience and in an attempt to make amends, had bequeathed the worth of the diamond to John. If you never read this adventure tale as a kid, read it now. It's as good for adults as for kids. I am not into tales of adventure, and still I thoroughly enjoyed it.Filming took place in September 1954. "We are trying to make it one of the best of its type", said Houseman. [11]

Moonfleet is considered to be a classic work of fiction, and continues to be published in series such as Dover Children's Evergreen Classics.Stories set by the sea attract me. Here we see the wind tearing at the trees during a storm, hear the rumble of the stones pulled by the undertow and smell the salt in the air. The story is set along the Dorset coastline of southwestern England near St. Alban’s Head. Events begin in the year 1757. The book’s written about a century and a half later. Meade Falkner was a great collector of books, and an expert palaeographer - he even received a medal from the Pope for this. He was a benefactor to libraries, not only in England, but also to the Vatican library in Rome. He loved the small Cotswold town of Burford which it was said of in 1970 that it owed its then present state of preservation to his generosity. He was buried in its churchyard after his death in 1932. Brimming with bravery, atmosphere and all-out action, this is a tale to be dazzled by, and lose yourself in.

Each chapter starts by building up a suspense or some thrill, like a microcosm of the whole story. That either reaches its conclusion or becomes a cliffhanger, by the end of the chapter. I was actually *more* patient with convoluted, old-fashioned prose when I was a kid than I am now, but I would have not finished this book. The friend who gave it to me read it at eight and only remembers how dull it was. Houseman later said, "It ended up being rather a crazy type of picture – still much admired by European filmmakers – but, commercially, it was a disaster." [8] A gothic melodrama set in England during the 18th century, the film is about John Mohune, a young orphan ( Jon Whiteley), who is sent to the Dorset village of Moonfleet to stay with his mother's former lover, Jeremy Fox. Fox ( Stewart Granger), is a morally ambiguous character, an elegant gentleman intimately involved with smugglers. [3] On the run from the law, Mohune and Fox must decipher a coded message in their pursuit of a fabulous diamond hidden long ago.Hopper, Hedda (May 22, 1954). "Looking at Hollywood: Clark Gable Rounds Up Top Talent for His New Movie". Chicago Daily Tribune. p.18. Plus I’m working on a smuggling story, so when I heard about John Meade Falkner’s Moonfleet, I just had to read it! Set in the mid-eighteenth century (though written about 150 years later), it tells the story of John Trenchard, a teenage orphan growing up in an impoverished coastal village in southern England. He is being brought up by an aunt who is more strict than loving, but finds affection and some parenting among the older men of the village. He also has a crush on a girl, the daughter of the wealthiest man in town; she has been a childhood pal but now is more to him. The writing wobbles a few times, Falkner is a little too fond of the word ‘lief’ and describing a man as having ‘the finest forehead that I ever saw’ sounds very silly, what consists a ‘fine forehead’? However, when the tension needs to ramp up, it does and the book finds itself at a very moving sacrifice. Richard Dyer MacCann (Feb 1, 1955). "About a 'Little Kidnapper': Hollywood Letter". The Christian Science Monitor. p.4. In 1963 the BBC aired a five-episode radio series of Moonfleet adapted by Morna Stuart and produced by Brandon Acton-Bond. [11]