Why a Booktrail?
17th Century – A story based on historical fact about a real life pirate raid which took place off the 17th century Cornish coast. The book has also been published under the title of The Tenth Gift.
Crossed Bones/The Tenth Gift
What you need to know before your trail
Can history really repeat itself?
Julie Lovat is about to find out.
When she is given a exquisite book full of embroidery patterns,a closer look tells her that there is a lot more to this book than first meets the eye. There are diary entries which tell of a young girl who lived in 17th century Cornwall and who was ‘stolen; along with many others by Muslim pirates and taken to Morocco to be slaves.
Julie is determined to find out more about this intriguing story and see if indeed Cat and her story are true. So she travels to Morocco to see for herself and soon finds a lot more than she bargained for. buried secrets lie waiting..
But history could soon be repeating itself…
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
Cornwall
You can learn a lot from a book and when the book in question was also used as a journal by a nineteen year old girl from Cornwall in 1625. This was the year in which corsairs from North Africa sailed into Mount’s Bay, stormed into a church and took sixty men, women and children, to be sold as slaves. stmichaelsmount.co.uk
Catherine is a seamstress but dreams of being more than an embroider. Forced into marriage with her cousin, she feels even more trapped in the life she doesn’t want. Cornwall might be home but for her it is not where she wants to be
“Cornwall’s a poor little country full of brigands and idiots and superstitious old biddies”
Captured from the very place she feels safe, the church, Catherine along with sixty others are taken to Morocco to work as slaves. He gift for sewing however allows her to be considered as a unique captive. She uses her stitching skills on more than fabrics however – after battles at sea, she is told to mend the injured.
Morocco
As they arrive in Morocco however, Catherine is relegated to the life of a norma captive and conditions are harsh and brutal. Being sold seems to be an improvement of her sad situation as she then moves to a nice, wealthy home where her duty is to teach sewing and embroidery to a group of woman. She is never told who she is working for however.
Julia works to find out what happens after the story just seems to end there. Michael has followed her and he wants to the book back
“If it is real Julie Lovat, you have here a piece of the true history of Morocco in your hands. It’s a miracle, a real window into the past. L’histoire perdue”
It will be up to her guide Idriss el-Kharkouri to find out and authenticate the story. Letters are discovered and the journey of Catherine continues. There are dark secrets which travelled to Morocco then as well. There are decisions which both women face, several centuries apart …
Where Next?
