Smuggler's Moon

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

September of an unspecified year in the 1930s finds Kathleen Quinn, 15,
facing new challenges. When her father’s B.C. logging camp closes,
motherless Kathleen is sent to live with her grandmother while her
father seeks work elsewhere. Grandma is strict, but the new location
offers Kathleen fresh opportunities, including Steve Spence, 17, and the
chance to attend a real school in a community a half-hour boat ride with
Steve away. At school, Kathleen is befriended by another newcomer, Rose
Owen, 16. While the local girls shun Rose because she is poor and has
brothers in jail, naive Kathleen is impressed by Rose’s knowledge of
the latest fashions. When Rose becomes increasingly interested in Steve,
the girls’ friendship is strained, then broken.

Kathleen has one connection with Steve unavailable to Rose. The two
share the paying job of delivering supplies to a leper colony a 24-hour
return boat trip away. For fatherless Steve, the money means attending
university and becoming an engineer. However, Steve begins to associate
with Rose and her brother Chuck, who is involved in criminal activities.
During their penultimate colony delivery, Steve, unknown to Kathleen,
has decided to increase the trip’s worth by smuggling rum, but he is
hijacked by other smugglers and injured. Although Kathleen gets Steven
to medical help, their relationship is forever changed, and summer finds
a wiser Kathleen building new relationships, including one with her
grandmother.

Not as gritty as some of Razzell’s earlier books, Smuggler’s Moon
is still a very good read and character study. Recommended.