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The Buccaneer Farmer Published in England under the Title "Askew's Victory" by Harold Bindloss
lgpiper's review
4.0
I generally expect Harold Bindloss books to take place in western Canada. This one took place in the north of England and in the Carribean. It was an engrossing tale.
Osborn owns an estate known as Tarnside. It's been in his family for generations. Osborn is generally self indulgent and lazy, so he leaves the management of Tarnside to Hayes, who may or may not be sketchy. It's tough to tell at first. Osborn has a son who is basically a wastrel and keeps getting into debt and creating financial difficulties for his father. His daughter Grace appears to have a good head on her shoulders, although some might think her to be a bit strong headed for a mere woman. She actually has opinions for which she'll stand up.
A nearby farm, Ashness, is run by Peter Askew, with the help of his son Kit (Christopher), who has gone to agricultural school and has learned a thing or two about modern farming methods.
From time to time, Kit runs into Grace, and they strike up a friendship. That won't do, as far as Alan Thorn, the local master of the hounds is concerned. He wants Grace for himself. Then too, the Askews run afoul the local hunting establishment because the hunters occasionally ravage the land, causing numerous headaches for the local farming community.
So, Thorn maneuvers a breach between Tarnside and Ashness, in part because the noblesse oblige of the Osborn's can't see why they should care for the lives of "lower beings", and in part because Thorn intimates that Kit might have a thing for Grace, something simply not done in proper society.
Kit decides to get away from it all by heading off to America to work with his uncle Adam. Adam is known as a Buccaneer because he has some shady business practices. Much of his sketchy business dealings have to do with gun running and money laundering in various countries in and around the Caribbean (none ever specified). After a few years things go bad with Uncle Adam's backing the wrong party in a coup.
Kit eventually returns to Ashness to take over its management, his father having died while he was still in the Caribbean. He finds things in a bit of a mess in the area. Will he contrive to straighten out the skullduggery he has uncovered, and more importantly, does he win the hand of Grace in the end, with or without her father's blessing? That's for you to figure out.
I've become rather fond of Harold Bindloss in the past year or so, and will certainly keep reading him.
Osborn owns an estate known as Tarnside. It's been in his family for generations. Osborn is generally self indulgent and lazy, so he leaves the management of Tarnside to Hayes, who may or may not be sketchy. It's tough to tell at first. Osborn has a son who is basically a wastrel and keeps getting into debt and creating financial difficulties for his father. His daughter Grace appears to have a good head on her shoulders, although some might think her to be a bit strong headed for a mere woman. She actually has opinions for which she'll stand up.
A nearby farm, Ashness, is run by Peter Askew, with the help of his son Kit (Christopher), who has gone to agricultural school and has learned a thing or two about modern farming methods.
From time to time, Kit runs into Grace, and they strike up a friendship. That won't do, as far as Alan Thorn, the local master of the hounds is concerned. He wants Grace for himself. Then too, the Askews run afoul the local hunting establishment because the hunters occasionally ravage the land, causing numerous headaches for the local farming community.
So, Thorn maneuvers a breach between Tarnside and Ashness, in part because the noblesse oblige of the Osborn's can't see why they should care for the lives of "lower beings", and in part because Thorn intimates that Kit might have a thing for Grace, something simply not done in proper society.
Kit decides to get away from it all by heading off to America to work with his uncle Adam. Adam is known as a Buccaneer because he has some shady business practices. Much of his sketchy business dealings have to do with gun running and money laundering in various countries in and around the Caribbean (none ever specified). After a few years things go bad with Uncle Adam's backing the wrong party in a coup.
Kit eventually returns to Ashness to take over its management, his father having died while he was still in the Caribbean. He finds things in a bit of a mess in the area. Will he contrive to straighten out the skullduggery he has uncovered, and more importantly, does he win the hand of Grace in the end, with or without her father's blessing? That's for you to figure out.
I've become rather fond of Harold Bindloss in the past year or so, and will certainly keep reading him.
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