Join Amazon Prime and get unlimited Free One-Day Delivery. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
66 used & new from £0.01

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Blighted Cliffs
 
 

The Blighted Cliffs (Paperback)

by Edwin Thomas (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
RRP: £6.99
Price: £5.49 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £1.50 (21%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Only 2 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want guaranteed delivery by Tuesday, July 21? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
11 new from £1.05 55 used from £0.01
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover 23 used & new from £0.01
Audio Cassette (Audiobook) £41.95 £41.95 2 used & new from £24.99

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Chains of Albion by Edwin Thomas

The Blighted Cliffs + Chains of Albion
Price For Both: £10.98

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: The Blighted Cliffs by Edwin Thomas

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Chains of Albion by Edwin Thomas

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Chains of Albion

Chains of Albion

by Edwin Thomas
4.0 out of 5 stars (1)  £5.49
Treason's River (Reluctant Adv/Martin Jerrold 3)

Treason's River (Reluctant Adv/Martin Jerrold 3)

by Edwin Thomas
The Winter Soldiers: Sergent Jack Crossman and the Attack on Kertch Harbour (Fancy Jack Crossman 4)

The Winter Soldiers: Sergent Jack Crossman and the Attack on Kertch Harbour (Fancy Jack Crossman 4)

by Garry Douglas Kilworth
4.3 out of 5 stars (3)  £5.49
The Admiral's Daughter (Kydd 8)

The Admiral's Daughter (Kydd 8)

by Julian Stockwin
3.9 out of 5 stars (30)  £5.99
Sails on the Horizon: A Novel of the Napoleonic Wars

Sails on the Horizon: A Novel of the Napoleonic Wars

by Jay Worrall
3.7 out of 5 stars (3)  £8.46
Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Bantam Books; New edition edition (1 Jun 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0553815148
  • ISBN-13: 978-0553815146
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 347,773 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Product Description

Product Description
Not many men emerged from Trafalgar without an ounce of credit to their names, but courtesy of an over-fondness for rum and his habitual bad luck, Lieutenant Martin Jerrold managed it. In February 1806, he is given one final chance to redeem his reputation and dispatched to Dover. Things don't augur well when, walking off the effects of a night in the tavern, Jerrold stumbles across a corpse lying on the beach. And they take a distinct turn for the worst when, to his horror and bemusement, he is suspected of murder. With a captain who despises him, and the local magistrate determined to see him hang, he knows clearing his name will require an imporbable reversal of his miserable fortunes. Somewhere in Dover's twisted streets, someone must know something. But Jerrold soon discovers that nothing is as it seems in a town where smuggling is a way of life, where everyone from the fishermen to the colonel of dragoons drinks only the finest French brandy...Distrusted by his superiors, set upon by suspiciously well-informed thugs and attacked by the French at sea, Jerrold does find some sympathy in the less-than-respectable arms of the comely Isobel, but he knows he has but two weeks to save his skin - or perish in the attempt.

From the Back Cover
Not many men emerged from Trafalgar without an ounce of credit, but Lieutenant Martin Jerrold R.N. managed it. In February 1806, he is given one last chance to redeem his reputation and dispatched to Dover.

Things don't augur well when, walking off the effects of a night in the tavern, he stumbles across a corpse lying on the beach. And they take a distinct turn for the worse when he is suspected of murder. With the local magistrate determined to see him hang, Jerrold knows clearing his name will require an improbable reversal of his miserable fortunes. Somewhere in Dover's twisted streets, someone must know something. But he soon discovers that nothing is as it seems in a town where smuggling is a way of life...

Distrusted by his superiors, set upon by suspiciously well-informed thugs, attacked by the French at sea but finding sympathy in the less-than-respectable arms of Isobel, Martin Jerrold has two weeks to save his skin - or perish in the attempt.

The Blighted Cliffs marks the beginning of a rich, swashbuckling adventure series, featuring a reluctant hero for whom life rarely turns out as he intends.

See all Product Description


Tag this product

 (What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
 

 

Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Good - but don't be deceived: Flashman it ain't., 16 Aug 2003
By R. Lloyd "richardhlloyd" (Surrey, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Blighted Cliffs (Hardcover)
There are two things to say about this book. The first is, that whilst the publisher has made a highly unsubtle attempt to position this work as ‘the new Flashman’, to the extent that the dust jacket is in most respects an almost direct facsimile of the current 30th anniversary edition of the Flashman series, (complete with a helpful endorsement on the back claiming ‘At last! The new Flashman’), in fact this book bears no relation to (nor comparison with) George MacDonald Fraser’s incomparable Flashman series. I would guess that this comparison was never in the mind of the author, Edwin Thomas, but was a wheeze hit upon by his publisher. Had the author intended to create a proto-Flashman, he could have done so to much greater effect by making his central character a lot more like the scoundrelly and debauched Flash. In fact, the hero of this piece, Napoleonic Naval Lieutenant Martin Jerrold, is not a bit like Flashman – rather he is fundamentally decent but misunderstood, nice to women and children, and happy to spend time with attractive young women for the sake of their company, without the endless quest for carnal pleasures which so characterises Flashman. Martin Jerrold is not a natural braveheart – but his frailties are fairly typically human, and he appears to have none of Flashman’s massive and incorrigible defects of character. In fact, Martin Jerrold appears in most respects a pretty typical hero of historical fiction, basically likeable, considerate, and honourable - unlike the deliciously selfish and beastly Flashman, a true antihero, whose very immorality makes him such an utterly compelling character. So, don’t be suckered (as I was) by the dust jacket. This is not the next Flashman. George MacDonald Fraser’s encyclopaedic grasp of both the sweep and minutae of warfare and campaigns in the Nineteenth Century, and his masterly ability to create characters and dialogue which are both utterly authentic and often hysterically funny, are in a different league from The Blighted Cliffs, and to be honest, whoever had the temerity to suggest promoting this novel as the new Flashman, has not done Mr Thomas any service, as his otherwise perfectly enjoyable offering inevitably suffers in the comparison.
The second thing to say about this book, is that it is a thoroughly well written and very enjoyable read. It in fact clearly falls into a very well worked genre – the historical whodunnit (see Ellis Peters, Lindsey Davis, and a host of lesser imitators). In summary, this book is a historical detective novel, as Lieutenant Jerrold unravels a series of murky goings-on involving smugglers and foreigners in 1805 Dover. Now I always feel I should like historical whodunnits (and I’ve avidly followed Lindsey Davis’s superb Falco series, since The Silver Pigs first appeared) but often, I find them disappointing. I recently read another new entrant (the title escapes me) set in Elizabethan England, which frankly was a feeble exercise in bandwagon jumping. It’s like ‘let’s find an historical era which doesn’t have a sleuth, and invent one fast’. The result? Too much implausible cod period dialogue, too many ludicrously improbable happenings, and just too heroic a sleuth at the centre of things. Edwin Thomas’s novel falls into none of these traps. I thought the period dialogue and detail was nicely observed, not intrusive - barely there at all in fact - but well executed with none of the usual howlers of crass modernisms dropped liked clangers into ye supposed ‘olde worlde speke’. All in all, very well told, and pretty believable.
My recommendation is buy and read this book – it’s a nicely done historical piece, with a good sense of the period, and at a very attractive cover price for a hardback (a mere tenner, publishers price - and only eight quid from Amazon). I enjoyed it quite a lot. But Flashman it ain’t, and if I were Edwin Thomas, I would be asking my publisher to stop positioning my work off as something it patently isn’t, and start promoting it on its own well deserved merits.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb!, 13 Jun 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: The Blighted Cliffs (Hardcover)
This is an excellent Novel and I think the first of many from this author.
The lead Character is excellent, he is so normal, no superhero that is brave and dashing. He is a lazy undistinguished officer, with a particular taste for women and hard drinking which are likely to get him in to a lot of trouble. This change from the usual Naval heros is refreshing and for me made the book so much more enjoyable.
An excellent read and I hope we will see more.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Flashman? - I think not. Patrick O'Brien? - Not yet., 7 Jan 2005
By A Customer
The Bantham Books PR people have done their job well. By comparing Jerrold to Flashman and having a similar cover they got me to buy the book. However, as everyone else seems to think the character and the book falls a long way short of Flash!
It is a good story, nicely set but somewhat shallow. More research and greater depth would have made this a very good book.
It's good enough to give the next in the series a crack and I genuinly hope that the series grows along with the character and author.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable romp through Regency times
The first in a series, concerning the reluctant adventures of Lieutenant Martin Jerrold, a kind of Royal Naval version of Flashman, without the copious footnotes. Read more
Published 16 months ago by R. Nicholson-morton

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely well written and hillarious adventures of Martin Jerrold.
From the opening paragraph setting up this brilliant opening for the adventures of Lieutenant Martin Jerrold, one gets the impression that the main character is mad. Read more
Published on 28 Jun 2006 by film fan

4.0 out of 5 stars A very well written book, but Flashy at sea it ain't!!
I came across this book completely by chance while browsing through a Waterstones or some such and was certainly drawn to it by the Flashman-esque cover and the fact that the... Read more
Published on 24 Jun 2004 by Mr. Daniel Winfield

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


   
Related forums


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Feedback


The Body Shop

The Body Shop - Vitamin C Skin Boost
Protect and boost your glow with The Body Shop Vitamin C Skin Boost.

Shop The Body Shop

 

Make A Wish

Get what you want with an Amazon.co.uk Wish List Make sure you always get what you want with an Amazon.co.uk Wish List.

More info on Wish Lists

 

Up to 50% off Dental Care

Braun Oral-B Professional Care 6000 Rechargeable Toothbrush - Pack of 2
Put a sparkle in your smile with up to 50% off selected Oral-B and Philips rechargeable toothbrushes.

Up to 50% off power toothbrushes

 

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

Learn more about Gift Certificates

 
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.

Continue Shopping: Top Sellers

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates