When I saw this book on my list of books to choose to review, I immediately was drawn by the cover, it's lovely but also shows the wildness of the NZ coastline and when I read the blurb it was a definite Yes for me to request, as not 6 days before I had spent an afternoon at the Dunedin Early Settlers Museum ( going off track a bit but if you ever visit Dunedin this is a Free admittance and an excellent place to visit )
Historical fiction is not a top genre for me to choose, but if the blurb draws me in I will read it, you see I am fussy when it comes to the books based in the past, there has to be some life in the story, the characters have to be relatable to me. Well Deborah Challinor hit the nail on the head.
Not only did the characters feel real, but the storyline was both familiar but also educated me at the same time.
Now the “rough and ready crew” of the schooner Katipo III were a mix of ethnicities and I knew that there were 3 other books in the ‘series’ of the Smugglers Wife Series But this did not make reading this book confusing, it just made me want to find the others and schedule them to read at some point.
We have the initial request for help from an old friend Wong Fu who must be introduced in a previous book, and we find out he is more than just a pan-handler, he is, in fact, a Tong Master, hence the title of the book , he is the Cloud Leopard and his daughter, Bao, has been kidnapped and taken to opium-ridden China. ( now I learned a lot about the opium trade reading this book!)
With the rest of the crew, Kitty and Rian set sail to find Bao, but it will not be easy, with unscrupulous relatives trying to hinder the rescue and pirates on the seas and most of all Jealousy in the midst of what is perceived as a happy family aboard the Katipo lead us on a very unpredictable adventure.
The Cloud's Leopard's Daughter kept me reading late into Friday night, all of Saturday afternoon and evening.
If you like books that bring you a sense of adventure, and a glimpse of the past ( and thankfully NZ has indoor plumbing now) then grab a copy.