A Castaway in Cornwall Julie Klassen

Laura Callaway daily walks the windswept Cornwall coast, known for many shipwrecks but few survivors. She feels like a castaway, set adrift on the tides of fate by the deaths of her parents and left wanting answers. Now living with her parson uncle and his parsimonious wife in North Cornwall, Laura is viewed as an outsider even as she yearns to belong somewhere again.

When ships sink, wreckers scour the shore for valuables, while Laura searches for clues to the lives lost. She has written letters to loved ones and returned keepsakes to rightful owners. She collects seashells and mementos, and when a man is washed ashore, she collects him too.

As Laura and a neighbor care for the castaway, the mystery surrounding him grows. He has abrasions and a deep cut that looks suspiciously like a knife wound, and he speaks in careful, educated English, yet his accent seems odd. Other clues wash ashore, and Laura soon realizes he is not who he seems to be. Their attraction grows, and while she longs to return the man to his rightful home, evidence against him mounts. With danger pursuing them from every side, will Laura ever find the answers and love she seeks?

In all transparency, I read this book a few years ago! I read it from Netgalley and never wrote my review for it. I can't remember what was going on at the time, but I feel awful for never having reviewed it. From what I remember I really liked the book and I recall the further I got into the story the more I liked it. I liked Laura. It was like you could feel sorry for her since she had lost her parents and was being raised by family and it seemed almost in competition with her cousin (I think), but not the cousin herself-but her mother. The two young women were fairly different but got along. 

There is a gentleman who she helps take care of, but he definitely doesn't seem to be who he says. He's mysterious and Laura finds herself a bit drawn to him. They go off onto an adventure to return him home and at one point all seems to be over--

I did enjoy this novel. It's a historical Christian fiction. It was a really well written enjoyable read. I don't feel as if it came across as "Christian" as much as a gentle soft story. Good, wholesome and clean are words that come to mind, but there was a well written story. I would absolutely read more books by Julie Klassen. 

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