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Marsh and Moor #1

By Marsh and by Moor

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M/M historical romance

Jed Trevithick, able seaman, has just escaped from the Royal Navy, and he's determined never to return. But the war against Napoleon is never-ending, and Naval press gangs scour the coast, looking for cannon fodder.

He meets Solomon Dyer, a London ostler who has his own reasons for avoiding the press gang. Together, they flee across the countryside, quickly coming to rely on each other to survive—and tumbling into bed together soon afterwards.

But Jed still bears the scars from his time in the Navy, and Solomon's secret may be the very thing that puts him in danger again.

275 pages, ebook

First published July 17, 2025

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Annick Trent

8 books64 followers

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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
Profile Image for K.J. Charles.
Author 65 books12.1k followers
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November 10, 2025
That rare thing (except for Annick Trent, whose speciality this is), a historical romance starring only working people. This one has an ostler on the run from London, and a carter who's done five years pressed in the Navy, deserted, as is terrified of being dragged back. I have never read a romance that centres press gangs before, and it's kind of not hard to see why, as the real and constant fear makes it a high-anxiety read. However, the couple are lovely in a very low-key, understated way, which counters the tension, and overall I found it a super involving story that puts a very welcome focus on normal lives. Recommended.
Profile Image for ancientreader.
772 reviews281 followers
July 22, 2025
Apropos of not much of anything: in the certainty that Annick Trent had misspelled the name of the naval vessel Jed escapes from, I looked it up and found that (1) yep, it was the Nonsuch; (2) it had been broken up years before the story begins. So now I can puzzle over whether the anachronism is intentional instead of gnashing my teeth over an "e" that isn't actually missing.

I did, though, gnash my teeth at some points. Getting those out of the way first --

Jed is telling his new friend Solomon about the fate of a captured deserter from the British navy. Deserting was of course a capital offense, but there was a shortage of manpower, so:
They only gave him a hundred lashes and sent him back to his messmates with his tail between his legs. He was killed about a week later. Cannonball took his head off.
OK, first of all a hundred lashes with a cat o' nine tails would probably have left him with exposed bone and I struggle to imagine him surviving; second, after 1750 floggings were limited to 12 lashes, though a nasty captain could get around that by citing multiple offenses, 12 lashes per, so I suppose that hundred lashes is a possibility but again, seems likely fatal.

Every so often the characters' idiom strikes me as wrong for the period.
“I’ve always found that the mind does its own thing,” Solomon said. “And there’s no profit to be had in beating yourself up about it.”
"Does its own thing"? "Beating yourself up"? Pretty sure both of those idioms arose in my lifetime, which yes I'm old but not one of the immortal undead. The real problem with lapses like these isn't the anachronism in and of itself but the fact that the language with which people express themselves both reflects and is a product of the way they think about themselves -- so when Solomon speaks of "beating yourself up" he's not articulating, or thinking about, fruitless self-castigation the way a man of the early 1800s would.

That's my petty grousing out of the way. Now for the good stuff: Glitches aside, I was thoroughly immersed in Jed and Solomon's experience: the logistics of their world and their class; the kinds of work they did, the clothes they wore, the food they ate; the material scarcity that was an unremarked given in their lives; and, especially, the ease with which ties to home and family could be sundered, as when men were impressed (how does a man who can't read or write communicate with home when no one at home can read or write either and anyway a letter may take weeks or months to arrive?).

Annick Trent's narrative begins in a low key, even though the first scene gives us Jed breathless and face down on the shore after having made his escape from the Nonsuch. But here's the thing: he and Solomon are effectively prey animals, avoiding well-traveled roads, inquiring at every village whether the press gangs are active there, eating whatever and sleeping wherever they can. Jed is marked as a seaman by his tarry, calloused hands and, at first, by his rolling gait. Solomon has -- this isn't much of a spoiler -- a particular predator hunting him and his friend Wallace. When they finally reach what they hope will be safety, they begin to relax, only to learn that the hunt is on again.

This last quarter of the book, as the predators close in on all three men, packs a wallop. I found myself reading faster and faster, in a fever of anxiety, feeling with Jed the claustrophobic misery of believing that your life will never be your own again. Oof, well done, Ms. Trent. And a really beautiful, understated, unmelodramatic aspect of the story is Jed's slow acceptance of the fact that the life he knew before he was impressed as a youth is really gone -- so he can, and must, also accept the happiness open to him in the life he has now.

And now for a spoiler. I'll describe the event as vaguely as I can: It's one scene, but it's a crucial one, and it needed more room to breathe.

Between that and the occasional lapses in idiom I couldn't quite stretch to 5 stars -- I'm calling it 4.75 and rounding up. But I want to stress that when I find myself thinking this thoroughly about what made a book less than perfect, that's because the book is pretty damn good. Just a satisfying and engrossing tale all around.

One more thing: By Marsh and by Moor is available wide, so you don't need to patronize You Know Which evil empire. I bought it from Smashwords, but it's also on Kobo etc. etc. etc.
Profile Image for ~✡~Dαni(ela) ♥ ♂♂ love & semi-colons~✡~.
3,578 reviews1,117 followers
September 3, 2025
~2.75~

I can't say I enjoyed this story. It was melancholy and depressing.

I've read about press gangs but didn't quite comprehend the horrors. The fact that impressment was legal in England for decades doesn't bear thinking about. Young men were abducted in the light of day, beaten, imprisoned, then forced into slave labor on Royal Navy ships.

Much of the book deals with this topic. Jed was pressed five years prior but finally managed to escape. He meets Solomon on the road. Solomon is hiding a secret that's not his to tell.

Minus a couple chapters where Solomon is telling a story that involves his close friend Wallace, Jed's POV dominates. The narrative felt very one-sided, and neither MC had a fully fleshed out personality.

There's a tentative HFN, no epilogue.

This is not my idea of a romance, but I have to give the author kudos for writing about common men, not gentry. There was a strong sense of time and place, and I have no qualms with the writing.
Profile Image for bird.
402 reviews111 followers
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October 15, 2025
boring :( i just dont understand how people publish romance novels that evidently weren't even fun to write-- no humor, no frissons, not even any felt character moments, just like, describing pleasant conversations from a distance and then telling us character notes ("he was wry and eager to please"-- where???) afterward. a bummer bcs i was excited for a gay historical romance not about lords.
Profile Image for Victoria (Eve's Alexandria).
843 reviews449 followers
October 5, 2025
I go to Annick Trent for the historical texture and working class protagonists, but not necessarily for the Big Feelings. Their work has a kind of quietude that suits me some times - her characters have their back stories and their dramas, but their stories are always circumscribed by the limits of their lives and ambitions. That’s true here, to an extent, but the stakes are higher than in her earlier books. Jed, a deserter from the British Navy, and Solomon, who is escaping his own complex past, both have what we would now call PTSD. They both are being literally chased across the countryside. Neither of them has a place of safety to fall back on. As a result their story, while slow and deliberate in Annick’s way, is full of peril and uncertainty. The fact that I didn’t always feel their romance is a problem though - it was more academic than emotional for me.
Profile Image for Joyfully Jay.
9,070 reviews517 followers
August 21, 2025
A Joyfully Jay review.

4 stars


By Marsh and By Moor is the first in the Marsh and Moor series by Annick Trent and is targeted towards readers who enjoy well developed, languid, historical romances. I did enjoy the book and felt that the main characters made a sweet couple, but I struggled with a few historical aspects of the novel.

By Marsh and By Moor was generally well written and the author did an excellent job of giving the story time to breathe and mature at its own pace. Sometimes the pacing lagged a bit, but by the same token, I enjoyed that nothing about this book was rushed or forced.

Read Sue’s review in its entirety here.



181 reviews1 follower
August 1, 2025
While I enjoyed this book and was eager to keep reading it, it was less compelling for me than Trent’s other books. I did like the tension of the chase and the attraction between the two mcs. I liked the historical backdrop and the way the author explores the press gang, a concept I have never thought much about. Reading about it made me think about how it must have been for so many naval soldiers. Still the book did not work that well for me. A secret that we don’t know is a trope that doesn’t usually work for me and didn’t here. The escape from abuse plot was somewhat flat for me. I also had a hard time with the forgiveness at the end. I did not understand why Solomon betrayed Jed. After reading the whole book from Jed’s pov and feeling with him that the very worst thing that could befall him would be getting pressed, it was mind-boggling to me that Solomon would just give him up to the gang and then I did not understand why Jed would just forgive him and trust him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for thefourthvine.
772 reviews242 followers
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December 2, 2025
This is a DNF I for real want to go back to. It's obviously good, and I enjoyed what I read, but the creeping sense of Something Bad Coming, the feeling that betrayal was right around the corner -- it was just not what I was looking for at a stressful time in my life. So I'll be back when things are better (or when I'm thoroughly spoiled and can therefore stop dreading the unknown).
252 reviews4 followers
October 28, 2025
Maybe 4.5 stars.

I’ve read so many historical romances set during the Regency/Napoleonic wars yet can’t remember any mentioning (let alone centering) impressment.

Kinda slow (saw a review say “languid” which I like) and meandering, in a way I mostly enjoyed. Would have finished it sooner if I wasn’t busy this past week.

Definitely interested in this author’s backlist and the future of this series.
500 reviews1 follower
July 30, 2025
I enjoy this author’s work very much.
I like her focus on working class characters and find her representation of their lives very interesting. They ring true and that is a tribute to the research she has done. The plot of this book is engaging and tense - I was hooked. Her main characters are realistic and sympathetic. I look forward to meeting them again!
12 reviews
October 12, 2025
I really adore this book, there's very, very little that I can detract from it, and it honestly boils down to the pacing. The story takes place over months, and then the conflicts that were building up all come to a head over one or two hectic days, and that's all fine, but it was the resolution part that happened too fast. Especially after all the heightened stakes and speed at which climactic events happened, I'd have liked the characters (and me too) to have time not just to take a big sigh of relief, but also to fully catch their breath, so to speak. I think where the story leaves off is great, but it just happened in too short a space.

That said, I love the pace of the rest of the book. Jed and Solomon traveled together for only a short time too, but it's written so lovely and feels so warm that I am fully convinced of their bond and their sadness when they think their time together is over. Their companionship felt so natural throughout the whole story, but especially in those beginning stages when each of them takes the gamble of relying on the other.

There was heavier subject matter than I anticipated, but I appreciated how these themes were portrayed. The characters never give their experiences a name, but I as the reader can understand that . Jed, Wallace, and Solomon, all talk about their lived experiences without the guide of common knowledge we have now, but they all reach common ground in order to support each other. Solomon and Wallace's friendship was really touching and it was rewarding to read exactly why Solomon was on his journey and why it mattered so much to him.

I love Jed and Solomon together, I think their chemistry is amazing; it's all encompassing and burns hot, but it's quiet and steady and sure, too. I'm actually very pleased that . There couldn't have been a single conversation, or even a dozen conversations of Jed and Solomon talking things over that I would have been satisfied by, but it's wonderful to know that it will happen someday and they're committed to it. They understand each other's actions and they don't want to lose each other to their pain, and that's beautiful, I think.

There's a lot of melancholy and fear that the characters feel, but I ended the book so happy I read it and so warm in my heart. I'm a romantic and I'm going to write this line in my journal, I swear:

"If I have your mind and body but not your heart and soul, I don't think I could bear that."
12 reviews
September 13, 2025
I was really enjoying this right up until the resolution, which felt very unsatisfying to me. I couldn't get past Solomon's betrayal, which was too big to forgive and never addressed seriously enough given the scale of what happened. I really enjoyed all of the characters prior to that point, but afterwards I had trouble caring what happened to anyone except Jed. Jed leaving behind his beloved horse that he'd spent the whole book searching for also didn't make sense to me -- I'm not a horse person, but it's so strange to spend that much time looking for Bess just to have him shrug and say she's only a horse. It's clearly meant to be a marker of personal growth/moving on, but it comes off as inconsistent characterization and makes him seem very cold.

I always like the attention to historical detail in this author's books and it was very interesting to learn more about press gangs and naval service. This definitely went from five to three stars for me in this last few chapters (rated it 4 as a compromise), but the first 2/3 is good enough that it's still worth a read. I think one felt similarly after reading their other books, so maybe it's just that their approach to endings doesn't work for me?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Ellie Thomas.
Author 61 books75 followers
August 4, 2025
Whatever the setting, contemporary or historical, Annick Trent always plunges the reader into a specific context.
This time, it's about how the press gangs terrorized coastal communities during the Napoleonic Wars. MC Jed, a recent escapee from the navy lands up on the familiar Somerset shore, his only desire to return to his home village, and teams up with traveller Solomon.
I loved the vivid depictions of the county, the levels, moors, villages and coastal towns as our two working men try to find work and keep out of the clutches of the dreaded press gang. Jed and Solomon's romance was touching and sweet, and very realistic in how both their past trauma impacted on them. A wonderful and convincing Regency road trip.
Profile Image for Alexandra Almond.
Author 2 books22 followers
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September 21, 2025
So refreshing to have a historical romance focussed on working class people. Jed was press-ganged into the navy 5 years ago, has now escaped and is helped on his way by Solomon who is also running although we're not told from what until close to the end. It's very much Jed's story but all the characters are beautifully drawn and the emotional intensity is strong. One small quibble, But altogether a lovely read.
Profile Image for Drianne.
1,322 reviews33 followers
July 23, 2025
I really liked this. As in her other works, the author does a much better than usual job of getting the historical setting right and in concentrating on people who not at the top of the social hierarchy. I liked both characters (although their declarations of love weren't quite convincing). I also liked that it never switched POV, so we really got to know the MC.
Profile Image for Tess.
2,195 reviews26 followers
August 29, 2025
4.25 stars

It’s not often you get historical m/m romance where the main characters are “regular” people - in this case Jed, who’s escaped his ship after being pressed five years earlier, and Solomon, a former London ostler. Reading this you get a real feel for the terror of the press gangs. I also liked that the romance felt believable.
Profile Image for Cat.
547 reviews
August 29, 2025
Nice lower-class little romance as always from Trent, with an interesting look at background DV for one of the side characters. I like how the friendships are as valuable/important as the romance.
Profile Image for Clare.
547 reviews3 followers
November 23, 2025
Trent is fantastic at properly portraying the lives of normal people in the 19th century. Great
Profile Image for Cleo.
634 reviews14 followers
August 21, 2025
4.5 stars

Lovely, emotionally satisfying queer romance set during the Napoleonic Wars between two working men looking for a fresh start. I enjoyed this author's previous historical romance series and this is definitely one of my favorites by her.

It's told mostly from the POV of Jed, who just escaped from the Royal Navy, five years after being captured by the press gangs. He just wants to get home, back to his village, with his family and his horse, and resume his life delivering goods across the moors and marshes of Somerset. But of course, it's not that easy. He's changed and so has the world he left.

He's aided by Solomon, who finds him washed ashore after his escape. The two are headed in the same direction and agree to travel together. Solomon is remarkably willing to help a stranger (and obvious deserter) but I was able to suspend disbelief and go with it - and it does fit with what we learn of his character later. I liked them together.

There's a lot going on with the plot - there's the danger of the press gang capturing both of them, Jed's quest to reclaim his old life, plus the reason Solomon left London. I think the romance sometimes takes a back seat to all of the suspense. I enjoyed the story and the characters enough that didn't bother me much. On her blog, the author says this is the first of a trilogy but it can also be read as a stand-alone with an HFN ending. So even though I was happy with the ending, I hope these two will get a firmer HEA by the end of the trilogy.

There's some heavy topics - Jed has PTSD from his time in the Navy and a side character was in an abusive relationship - but it ended on a believably hopeful note.

I'm not calling it a Regency romance, although it's set in that era, because the story is so far removed from the balls and parties associated with that genre. It's rare to find one, let alone, two working class heroes in a Regency romance and I really enjoyed learning about their worlds. Solomon was the head ostler at a coaching house in London before deciding to start over in Somerset - someone who might not even be mentioned by name in a more typical Regency romance. If you like Cat Sebastian's or Rose Lerner's Regency set romances, I think you'll like this too, although it is grittier.

SBTB 2025 Summer Bingo: inclement weather
78 reviews
November 22, 2025
I really enjoyed the plot, the themes, the (sometimes very sharp) dialogue and Jed as a character. I particularly loved the poignant writing when Jed has to finally contend with whether he can truly return to his old life, and whether his old life recognises him.

I found the romance unsatisfying in comparison - maybe it should've been a slower burn, maybe there was some lightheartedness missing. I wish the author had lingered over some moments to let the romance breathe.
Profile Image for Rox.
63 reviews
December 11, 2025
Just as in Beck and Call and The Oak and the Ash, this latest book balanced out an emotionally satisfying and well-developed relationship with the main character's personal journey and informative historical context. I found the ending/resolution a bit rushed, but otherwise I loved this novel and am really looking forward to the rest of Jed and Solomon's story.
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