Shoal Water

Shoal Water is a 1940 novel by the English author Dornford Yates (Cecil William Mercer).
It was first serialised in Blue Book (July to October 1940, as When The Devil Drives, illustrated by Austin Briggs).

Shoal Water
1942 dustjacket
AuthorDornford Yates
GenreNovel
PublisherWard Lock & Co[1]
Publication date
1940[1]
Media typePrint
Pages317[1]

Plot

Jeremy Solon (narrator) falls in with Katherine Scrope and learns she has been blackmailed into doing duty as a carrier for jewel thieves. She is kidnapped, and Solon and his companions – now including Jonathan Mansel – set out to rescue her.

Background

The dust jacket of the first edition bears on the back the words "The making of this book enabled me to forget the gathering clouds: it is my great hope that the reading of it will enable others to forget the storm."[2]

Critical reception
US dustjacket (Putnam)

Mercer’s autobiographer AJ Smithers, writing in 1982, noted that this novel and the preceding one, Gale Warning, are written to a pattern, though one that is cunningly woven.[3] He considered both books to be swiftly moving, just plausible, and to still bear re-reading after all these years.[2] The second half of the book bears considerable resemblance to A. E. W. Mason's 1934 novel They Wouldn't Be Chessmen.[4]

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gollark: ++exec```shellecho hi | cowsay```
gollark: ``` _________________________________________ / However, on religious issures there can \| be little or no compromise. There is no || position on which people are so || immovable as their religious beliefs. || There is no more powerful ally one can || claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or || God, or Allah, or whatever one calls || this supreme being. But like any || powerful weapon, the use of God's name || on one's behalf should be used || sparingly. The religious factions that || are growing throughout our land are not || using their religious clout with || wisdom. They are trying to force || government leaders into following their || position 100 percent. If you disagree || with these religious groups on a || particular moral issue, they complain, || they threaten you with a loss of money || or votes or both. I'm frankly sick and || tired of the political preachers across || this country telling me as a citizen || that if I want to be a moral person, I || must believe in "A," "B," "C," and "D." || Just who do they think they are? And || from where do they presume to claim the || right to dictate their moral beliefs to || me? And I am even more angry as a || legislator who must endure the threats || of every religious group who thinks it || has some God-granted right to control || my vote on every roll call in the || Senate. I am warning them today: I will || fight them every step of the way if || they try to dictate their moral || convictions to all Americans in the || name of "conservatism." - Senator Barry || Goldwater, from the Congressional |\ Record, September 16, 1981 / ----------------------------------------- \ ^__^ \ (oo)\_______ (__)\ )\/\ ||----w | || ||```I need a cowsay command.
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References
  1. "British Library Item details". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  2. Smithers 1982, p. 175.
  3. Smithers 1982, p. 173.
  4. Smithers 1982, p. 225.

Bibliography
  • Smithers, AJ (1982). Dornford Yates. London: Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 0 340 27547 2.
  • Usborne, Richard (1974). Clubland Heroes. London: Barrie & Jenkins. ISBN 0 214 20012 4.
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