The Quayside Poet - Diane Smith

Sometimes the truth lies hidden for years.

Sometimes it is merely mislaid.

Joshua Ambrose, poet and merchant of the Georgian town of Wisbech, rubs shoulders with some very interesting neighbours in his everyday life. Among them are the anti-slavery campaigner Thomas Clarkson and the Quaker banker Jonathan Peckover. In 1799, with its wealthy merchants and prosperous port, Wisbech is enjoying its heyday as a centre of progress, vitality and trade.

Yet none of this helps Joshua with the choices he has to make. Their repercussions will still be creating havoc more than two centuries later.

Monica Kerridge, in her battle to save her beloved Poet’s House Museum, has only a few flimsy clues to guide her. Her search for the truth leads her from the Fens to Corfe Castle in Dorset, as she follows in the footsteps of the poet.

But neither Monica nor her small team, nor even the Poet’s House itself, can change the past, however much of its mystery they unravel.

They can only hope to escape it.