A Wild and True Relation offers a gripping historical adventure, blending a feminist narrative with complex characters and a rich setting. The story of Molly, raised as a boy aboard Tom West’s ship after the violent death of her mother, is compelling, and I appreciated how her quest for revenge and identity unfolds against the backdrop of 18th-century Devon. The exploration of Molly stepping outside gender norms to survive and thrive in a male-dominated world was one of the highlights for me.
The book is undeniably well-researched, and Kim Sherwood’s writing immerses you in the time period with vivid descriptions. However, I found myself wishing for more focus on Molly’s personal journey and less on the secondary narrative threads that appear throughout, particularly the sections involving later writers who were fascinated by her story. While these added an interesting layer, they occasionally pulled me out of Molly’s storyline, which was where my primary interest lay. Despite this, the character development, especially Molly’s, was strong, and her emotional growth and complex relationships kept me invested. Overall, I enjoyed the book, but I feel it could have been more tightly focused. I’d still be curious to read more of this author’s work.

Unfortunately this just wasn't for me. I was enjoying the story about Molly, but I could have done without the interludes which were quite boring to be honest and made the novel drag on. I feel like this is one of those books you'll either love or hate, I thought I'd loved it because I love a good pirate/sea adventure novel but there was very little of that.

The prose of this story is beautiful, at time almost whimsical. I loved the setting of the story and the beautiful descriptions.

The interludes that our peppered through the story, do create some disruption to the overall flow of the story and I did feel it could have been shorter.

Nevertheless I did find the story enjoyable

I requested this book because of the Hilary Mantel quote praising it and because of the interesting setting and subject. This novel follows Devon free-trader Tom West in the early eighteenth century as he takes revenge on his lover Grace for betraying him to the Revenue and then adopts her daughter Molly. Molly grows up on board Tom’s ship protected by him and disguised as a boy. But will Molly ever discover what really happened to her mother?
Interspersed within the novel are the notes for a fictional talk on creatives inspired by Molly’s story including Frances Reynolds, George Eliot and Charles Dickens. At times I wanted more of these sections and less of the main story which featured unlikely fights, pantomime villains in the Revenue and a slightly creepy relationship. Loved the premise of this book but it didn’t really work for me.

A touching novel full of adventure with themes of identity and belonging, A Wild & True Relation is a poignant new Historical Fiction from the versatile Kim Sherwood. Beautiful storytelling and a century-spanning mystical plot will keep you invested in Molly's story page by page, I read it cover to cover!

a bit too inside baseball for me. i felt at a distance from most of the characters, even though i found the narration to have a nice bounce to it

Brilliant! This is like "Treasure Island" written by Hillary Mantel. I couldn't get enough.

The characters are deep and complex, and the plot full of twists. Vivid historical background - I could almost smell the sea.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This book was an interesting read, playing on historical fact and fiction to develop a new, more feminist mythology based on Devon folklore. It's quite a violent book, so definitely be prepared for that, and does have quite graphic depictions of domestic violence. But Sherwood also uses her characters to discuss issues of gender identity, power and masculinity, while having a lot of fun with the smuggler narrative.

A wild & true relation definitely takes the reader on a wild journey through time and I really enjoyed this tale. The reader can clearly see that Sherwood has done extensive research for this book with the details portrayed throughout. Sherwood is also an excellent storyteller and does transport the reader back to the 1700s. There are two narrative switches/font changes when this happens, which at the start I enjoyed but towards the end, I didn't really care for it as I wanted to continue reading on about Molly and Tom.

The beginning starts with a violent episode in which Molly's mother is murdered and Molly is taken into the care of Tom West and made to dress and pretend to be a boy, Orlando aboard the ship. The story of Molly reminded me a bit of another Irish historical figure Granuaile or Grace O'Malley (the pirate queen) as she is also known in English, where she too dressed as a boy/man in order to sail the seas. Such an interesting concept how women stepped outside the gender norms at the time to pursue something they wished to do or in the case of Molly in this story in order to protect her identity and live abroad on a ship peacefully for a certain time. I loved the character of Molly throughout, her strong mind and character, and her strive throughout her life to avenge her mother's death. Molly's character is beautifully written and the descriptions throughout really set the scene and paint the picture of the time and place. The story was definitely thought provoking long after reading.

However, this isn't the typical historical fiction book I tend to go for but I am glad I picked it up as I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it! Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Synopsis from Goodreads:
A gripping feminist adventure story of smuggling and myth-making, by award-winning author Kim Sherwood.

A Wild & True Relation opens during the Great Storm of 1703, as smuggler Tom West confronts his lover Grace for betraying him to the Revenue. Leaving Grace’s cottage in flames, he takes her orphaned daughter Molly on board ship disguised as a boy to join his crew. But Molly, or Orlando as she must call herself, will grow up to outshine all the men of Tom’s company and seek revenge – and a legacy – all of her own.

Woven into Molly’s story are the writers – from Celia Fiennes and George Eliot to Daniel Defoe and Charles Dickens – who are transfixed by her myth and who, over three centuries, come together to solve the mystery of her life. With extraordinary verve , Sherwood remakes the eighteenth-century novel and challenges women’s writing and women’s roles throughout history.

I was drawn to this book by the Hilary Mantel endorsement, as well as the description - I do like a good smuggler story.

The main narrative centres on Molly / Orlando. When her mother is brutally murdered in a showdown between Revenue officer Dick English and her lover and famed free trader (aka smuggler) Tom West, 7 year old Molly is taken on board Tom’s ship. As it is bad luck to have women on board, Molly is passed off as a boy, Tom’s powder monkey and protegee. She sleeps in his cabin and develops a fierce love and loyalty for him, her protector and father figure. She also nurtures an equally fierce hatred for Dick English, who she is led to believe was her mother’s murderer.

The story follows Tom’s freetrading fortunes as he eludes the Revenue and commands the public’s loyalty throughout Devon by means of a mutually profitable free trade arrangement.

Just as the story had me completely immersed, the flow was interrupted by an interlude. Badged as ‘Notes for a lecture on women and writing ... on the anniversary of Virginia Woolf's lecture series A Room of One’s Own’, it paints a vignette of a largely forgotten 18th century female travel writer in the circle of the artist Joshua Reynolds and his artist sister.

This pattern persists throughout, with Molly and Tom’s story interspersed with short accounts of female writers in the shadow of more famous male authors, who have been near forgotten or marginalised or had to disguise themselves in order to continue to practise their art. Much is made of the way they used their domestic role as wives to create the space to write. In one way or another they are all inspired by the legend of Tom West and the rumours of a journal kept by a mysterious female relating his story.

Molly grows older and it becomes more difficult to disguise her femininity. And meanwhile her determination to exact revenge for her mother's murder grows, as she waits and waits through Tom’s inexplicable failure to hunt down Dick English. A revelation from one of her shipmates turns her world upside down, and sets her on a course to forge her own path as an independent and successful shipwright.

The narrative technique of interleaving female author vignettes with Molly’s story is innovative and successful, as it draws various historic strands together to provide a commentary on centuries of women having to use subterfuge in order to succeed at anything other than domesticity. Ultimately though, as was the case with AS Byatt’s Possession, the book as a whole succeeds because it is extremely well written, seamlessly constructed, and tells a riveting story with well-drawn characters and a universally recognisable human drama. Highly recommended.

Kim Sherwood is one of those authors who refuses to be trapped in one genre or another. She's written historical fiction about the Holocaust. She's written James Bond. And here she is telling, with great verve and with a strand of modern relevance, a story of smugglers, Revenue men and seadogs in early 18th century Devon, Queen Anne's time.

But A Wild & True Relation is so much more than that, really it is.

It's the tale of Molly - Orlando - a young girl brought up aboard ship by smugglers as a boy, after her mother is killed in a mysterious scuffle involving notorious 'free trader' Tom West, Revenue man Dick English, and one of West's crew.

Orlando grows up determined to take revenge against English, who he blames for his mother's death. Influenced and schooled by West, he/ she becomes an accomplished sailor, something that would never be allowed a girl or woman, and indeed a perfect smuggler, something only a hair's breadth from being a pirate. But it's a time when the free traders are popular - 'Watch the wall, my darling, when the gentlemen go by' - and West lords it over Devon like a king, any and all manner of sins being forgiven or at least overlooked... for now.

But there's more! A Wild & True Relation may be rooted in stormy 18th century Devon but it grows out into other ages, other places too. Molly's/ Orlando's story is elusive, contradictory - one of the themes of this book, indeed, with nothing sure and certain, facts slippery and events liable to be reimagined - but it comes to the attention of a succession of writers: Mrs Thrale and Doctor Johnson, Daniel Defoe and Celia Fiennes, Charles Dickens, and eventually, Robert Louis Stevenson. We see the story become a touchstone, as characters look for a personal connection with Molly, eventually the 'lady shipwright" of Devonport, as it is reworked into filmscript, travelogue and more.

A common feature of the reworking is the appropriation of women's writing, imagination, life by men, something coolly commented on by a modern voice writing a series of lectures to be given commemorating Virginia Wolf at Girton College, Oxford (Orlando, of course!) I really enjoyed these interpolations. While the story of Orlando/ Molly is (I think!) fictitious, the descriptions given, and judgements made, of how cerated male writers used the woman around them are factual - and pretty scathing. Putting into those hands a narrative of a woman who who did whatever it took not to be so used - neither by the hand of officialdom nor by a romantic rogue - is a great corrective. There is a golden thread running through this book that, come what may, in the end Molly will be heard.

In the strangest sense, that very modern sensibility makes the romantic, salt-splashed narrative of three hundred years ago seem even more immediate, its themes and issues even more alive and present, than if it were just another romance of the sea, of which we have plenty (and I'm not saying that's a bad thing!)

Really, really good, fun to read and with a sharp core - or might I say a blade? - of steel at its heart

A gripping feminist adventure story of smuggling and myth-making, by award-winning author Kim Sherwood
Wow what a book thank you ever so much for the opportunity to review. I could not put it down. Would definitely recommend to others!

I asked for this book because of the promise of a woman smuggler in Dartmouth, a place I love and know well.
The chapters of the novel are interlaced with another story regarding the difficulties of women novelists and the ridicule and disdain that they encounter, eventually it becomes clear that this is also the story of the books history.
At the beginning of the book the description of a murder and near capture of the free trader Tom West is exciting, we see him as the hero of the people and although violent, fair. I got lost with the different characters and sometimes the lack of action. Although a spirited account of a girl forced by circumstances to dress and act as a boy, when she realises she has been betrayed, the consequences are brutal.
I did find this novel overly long and involved.
Thank you Kim and NetGalley.

Kim Sherwood has fantastic talent for exploring hidden histories. She finds stories that need telling and unearths them with an impressive amount of detail and research. Women's voices have been silenced throughout history, so it's very exciting to see a female author prioritising these veiled narratives and brining them to the mainstream with exceptional storytelling.

I often find stories which try to merge fact with fiction can become tiresome in some areas--especially when the narrative seems to shift between two worlds--but Kim does a fantastic job of blending the real world with her fiction, it feels truthful without being over-explanatory. Molly's story is enticing from very exciting the get-go -- we are immediately drawn into the strange world she has been thrown into, and are able to grow alongside her as we read.

The only thing I did struggle with in this novel are the time shifts, however, this is very much a thing of personal preference. For another reader, these may even enhance the experience!

1700s free trading Devon is a wild west, with aggressive men treating everything as property and people as pawns in a violent game. Molly's mother is murdered and she becomes a ward of Tom West, criminal mastermind of Devon's waters. Disguised for many years as a cabin boy on board Tom's ship, Molly comes of age in a series of violent events where she finally is able to become her own true person and take control of a previously male-dominated society.

The way Molly comes of age and finds her own way is delightfully done, but the violence of the men around her and their motives makes it almost incredible that she gets away with the things she does.

Overall the story is well told, but the interludes of women writers who chase an original book down through the centuries was a bit heavy handed for me, it split the book but not in a good way for the overall sympathy and enjoyment of Molly's story.

This book was beautiful written, captivating and exciting.
I felt so invested in Molly’s survival, and was rooting for her throughout.

I never got bored and found myself wishing to read at all times!
I did however find the interludes to be a little distracting, and although they were a good read, I’m not sure the placement worked so well.

Set in Free Trader's Devon in the 1700s, this is historical fiction like I've never read before and I loved it. It was so different to anything I've read before - I highly recommend to any historical fiction lovers.

It follows the story of legendary free trader, Tom West, his lover, Grace and her daughter, Molly. After Grace is brutally murdered (not a spoiler, its right in the first pages 😅), Tom vows to look after her 6 year old daughter Molly who he disguises as a boy called Orlando and takes on board his ship where she grows up at sea to be one of the crew. As the story progresses, Tom and his crew share in adventure, lies, deceit, smuggling and mystery as more information about Grace's murder comes to light and Molly seeks revenge for the murder of her mother.

The book addresses lots of issues surrounding women's voice and power over their life but it definitely isn't the type of feminist novel where all women are good and want good things and all men are powerful and prevent them. The characters are often morally grey and have you really thinking about their choices, often some you don't expect them to make and reading on especially for them.
It is a very character centred novel, all of which are written so beautifully and believable that even though it is a bit of a slow burning book, I was super invested in what happened to them.

The story is also interwoven with extracts from female literary figures that are interested in Molly West's story. I found this so interesting and so expertly woven in at the right time. It added depth and skill to the prose that I wasn't expecting.

Unfortunately this wasn't for me, I had a bit of a hard time finishing it. Blurbed by Hilary Mantel and advertised to cater to a literature loving reader by the mentioning of intertextuality with the other mentioned writers I think I expected it to be something more profound and it just didn't live up to my expectations.

I had recently enjoyed Kim Sherwood’s 007 novel and the late great Hilary Mantel said this is remarkable so I made my request for this without reading much about it. The story has a deep sense of place; the descriptions of the Devon and Brittany of the free-traders and merchants are lovingly detailed. The scenes throughout are evocative, cinematic even, especially in the prologue amidst The Great Storm of 1703.
There are interesting and believable characters throughout, not least Molly who lives as a boy by her own choosing and, with smuggler kingpin Tom West and his crew, out of necessity. With so many people keeping secrets or avoiding telling the truth, it’s hard to know who can be believed. A number of characters made choices I’d never have guessed at, loyalties ever-shifting and a betrayal always on the cards.
I found A Wild & True Relation something of a slow burner; I could have taken or left it in the early part of the book but by halfway through I had to know how it panned out. As well as the main narrative of the free-traders being interspersed with Tom’s memories and excerpts from Grace’s journal, interleaved are Sherwood’s notes for a lecture on women and writing that are themselves followed by passages of imagined real life among a Who’s Who of literary England, from Samuel Johnson to Charles Dickens. Each highlights the lack of opportunities and hurdles that existed for women over centuries. If all that makes it sound bitty or contrived, fear not – it all fits together beautifully.

*4.5 stars*

The tale of Molly and Tom West was a strong book on many levels, but what really made it special, was how character-centered it was. We follow the complexities of morally grey characters, growing up and identity struggles, and the complicated relationships all in the background of 18th century county Devon.

I am not a history buff, so I can't speak on historical accuracy but the vibes of the novel were immaculate and served as a perfect background to the turmoils of the plot. The lyrical language transports the reader between different timelines, characters, and experiences, all culminating in a heartbreaking finale.

The characters were multi-dimensional, and even when they were difficult to root for, they weren't annoying, which should be a principle that guides every author. Overall, a beautiful experience, When Kim Sherwood writes anything again, I'll be the first in line.