Moonfleet

By: J. Meade Falkner

Narrated by: Peter Joyce

A tale of smuggling and mystery on the Dorset coast as told by John Trenchard, a boy obsessed with discovering the secret of Colonel 'Blackbeard' Mohune's hidden treasure. One night, trapped in the Mohune family vault beneath the church, John finds a locket round the Colonel's neck which contains verses from the Psalms of David. What could it mean? Elzevir Block, landlord of the local public house, who has lost his son in the contraband wars, befriends John and together they struggle to find the secret of Blackbeard's buried wealth. It is an adventure story full of action and misfortune spanning many years, two different countries and ending with a message to us all.

About Assembled Stories: Over the years the national press have reviewed Assembled Stories titles as "excellent", "remarkable", "entrancing", "superb", "magic for sure", "masterly", "wonderful", "a class act" and "a splendid example of audio at its best".

©2004 J. Meade Falkner (P)2004 Assembled Stories

Critic reviews

"Peter Joyce is the most remarkable one-man band in audiobook publishing. Joyce, an experienced actor, reads them all himself." ( The Independent)

Wonderful to hear this book.

I was first forced to read this book in grade 9 as part of English. It was of all the books I read for English in high school the only one I felt at the end I understood why we had been assigned to read it.

It is an adventure story of the same ilk as Treasure Island. Christian values and practicals are part of the story but not critical to understanding it. More importantly it is about how we view ourselves and the choices we make. I would say that any teenager would likely have a good chance of enjoying the story.

A skillfully read, spirited tale.

I took a chance on Moonfleet because some compared it with Treasure Island. Though they share a similar tang, ultimately I found myself enjoying this story quite a bit more. For though it contains a fair amount of action and adventure, it's also much more. Time just flew by as Peter Joyce brilliantly narrated each character. He also managed to keep up a high energy for the action that does take place.

Struggled to finish

I found this story slow and many of the characters loathsome. The likeable characters suffer cruel twists of fate. Did not strike the adventurous chord I was looking for.