What do you think?
Rate this book
Hippo Hauntings #14
The Devil's Cauldron
Paperback
Published December 31, 1991
12 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 26, 2023
-Spoilers-
Good book, I liked the ghost-tour-guide part it panicked me so much when he hurt his leg and when they got caved in
Reuben seems so sweet and HOW WOULD THEY HAVE GOTTEN OUT IF HE WASN'T THERE MAN
Clare is so stubborn I love it
Love the character development and personality change from the dad I hope he told Ned all the stuff he said about him, you could tell he was genuinely worried and cared about him even though he was a tad... impolite
Good book overall :)
Good book, I liked the ghost-tour-guide part it panicked me so much when he hurt his leg and when they got caved in
Reuben seems so sweet and HOW WOULD THEY HAVE GOTTEN OUT IF HE WASN'T THERE MAN
Clare is so stubborn I love it
Love the character development and personality change from the dad I hope he told Ned all the stuff he said about him, you could tell he was genuinely worried and cared about him even though he was a tad... impolite
Good book overall :)
November 15, 2022
Cornwall. Sea caves, dangerous headlands, fast and merciless tides. And the ghosts left over from the golden age of smuggling.
My third David Wiseman book (don't miss Adam's Common - it's really good!). This one is just alright. Nothing much wrong with it, other than the fact that it's a 106 page teen thriller.
Clare, who is blind, is away with her parents at a caravan site at Polgwidden in Cornwall. There she makes friends with Ned, the friendly boy in the neighbouring camper van. They go for walks together along the beach and along the cliff paths. They meet Reuben Pascoe, a local scruffy fellow that Ned mistakes for a tramp, who tells them of the villages' smuggling past and the story of Jem Paynter, a smuggler who was murdered by the Revenue men in 'Caleb's Tea Caddy', a sea-cave at the base of the infamous cove nicknamed 'Devil's Cauldron'.
Clare is strangely drawn to the story and to the cave, while Ned feels quite the opposite. The cave can only be accessed briefly during low tide, and it's a treacherous rocky coastline to reach it. Reuben tells them that, should they be interested, they'd have to go during the big Spring tide at the full moon, in order to have enough time to get in and get out again safely.
Clare, in spite of being completely blind, has an adventurous spirit and brave parents who let her do as she sees fit. Ned's parents are considerably less pleasant: an over-anxious mother who restricts the fifteen year old's freedom for his own safety, and his father who complains that Ned has 'no guts' and has been 'mollycoddled'.
Ned knows well how his father despises him, and overhearing him tell Clare's parents that he's gutless, decides to take Clare up on her plea to sneak out to visit the sea-cave at six in the morning, the time of the maximum ebb tide at the headland, on the day that Ned's parents are due to leave the campsite.
Well, of course, you can imagine that their best laid secret plans go awry and that they don't make it out of the cave in time, and are cut off by violent, storm-fueled waves. It definitely belongs in the "Children's/Juvenile/YA: Caves with Water" Listopia list ( https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... ), but as I'm over my 100 allotted votes on that one, I was unable to add it in. It seems to be a popular and effective setting in juvenile adventure.
I can't tell anything more without spoiling it, but it's a ghost story of the more pleasant variety than some. It ends happily if abruptly, and makes this story an ideal, light beach-read, especially when sunbathing on a Cornish beach. Not worth seeking out especially, unless you plan on staying at Polgwidden beach (the village of Polgwidden and neighbouring village of St Medoc appear fictional, though) and desire something very fitting to read in the caravan for the rainy mornings.
My third David Wiseman book (don't miss Adam's Common - it's really good!). This one is just alright. Nothing much wrong with it, other than the fact that it's a 106 page teen thriller.
Clare, who is blind, is away with her parents at a caravan site at Polgwidden in Cornwall. There she makes friends with Ned, the friendly boy in the neighbouring camper van. They go for walks together along the beach and along the cliff paths. They meet Reuben Pascoe, a local scruffy fellow that Ned mistakes for a tramp, who tells them of the villages' smuggling past and the story of Jem Paynter, a smuggler who was murdered by the Revenue men in 'Caleb's Tea Caddy', a sea-cave at the base of the infamous cove nicknamed 'Devil's Cauldron'.
Jem Paynter was a smuggler bold,
Who sailed the Cornish sea,
To fetch the squire his brandy wine,
And bring the dame her tea.
He risked his life to run the casks,
He braved the breaker's swell,
Till one dark morn the Revenue
Did blast his soul to Hell.
The devil took his own that day,
They brought Jem home at dawn,
His body broke, his soul adrift,
His widow left forlorn.
They say he still brings casks ashore.
'Tis dreadful for to see -
A spirit running brandy wine,
And worse still bringing tea.
Clare is strangely drawn to the story and to the cave, while Ned feels quite the opposite. The cave can only be accessed briefly during low tide, and it's a treacherous rocky coastline to reach it. Reuben tells them that, should they be interested, they'd have to go during the big Spring tide at the full moon, in order to have enough time to get in and get out again safely.
Clare, in spite of being completely blind, has an adventurous spirit and brave parents who let her do as she sees fit. Ned's parents are considerably less pleasant: an over-anxious mother who restricts the fifteen year old's freedom for his own safety, and his father who complains that Ned has 'no guts' and has been 'mollycoddled'.
Ned knows well how his father despises him, and overhearing him tell Clare's parents that he's gutless, decides to take Clare up on her plea to sneak out to visit the sea-cave at six in the morning, the time of the maximum ebb tide at the headland, on the day that Ned's parents are due to leave the campsite.
Well, of course, you can imagine that their best laid secret plans go awry and that they don't make it out of the cave in time, and are cut off by violent, storm-fueled waves. It definitely belongs in the "Children's/Juvenile/YA: Caves with Water" Listopia list ( https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... ), but as I'm over my 100 allotted votes on that one, I was unable to add it in. It seems to be a popular and effective setting in juvenile adventure.
I can't tell anything more without spoiling it, but it's a ghost story of the more pleasant variety than some. It ends happily if abruptly, and makes this story an ideal, light beach-read, especially when sunbathing on a Cornish beach. Not worth seeking out especially, unless you plan on staying at Polgwidden beach (the village of Polgwidden and neighbouring village of St Medoc appear fictional, though) and desire something very fitting to read in the caravan for the rainy mornings.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews