Capt'n Davy's Honeymoon  -  1893
Sir Hall Caine
166 pages
genre  - Romance
my rating  - 3 out of 5 stars

This is a wonderful story about an Scottish (Isle of Man) orphan teenage boy who is sent to live with a farmer and his family. Davy soon falls in love with the farmer's pretty daughter; they are caught kissing and Davy is cast out of the house. Davy promises Nell that he will come back for her as soon as he makes his fortune. Ten years later Davy returns to claim his bride, and they are married within a week.

And they promptly have a fight and separate.

This story is a good example of how love is not enough to sustain a relationship. Davy and Nell really did not know each other. They had changed over the years. They should have spent a month or three to renew their friendship, work through any insecurities, learn how to communicate with each other and make plans for the future.

No formatting problems with the Amazon ebook. But at times it was difficult to understand Davy with his Scottish speech and slang, which is why I gave the book a rating of 3 stars.

About the author  - 

Thomas Henry Hall Caine was born 14 May 1853 in Runcorn, England.  His father came from the Isle of Man, but emigrated to Liverpool looking for work. Hall Caine was educated at the Hope Street British Schools until he was 14. 

After leaving school Caine was articled as an architect and surveyor. He developed a passion for books and spent much time in Liverpool's Free Library.  He started writing at this time, and contributed articles to a trade paper The Builder, which also carried literary articles, and to local newspapers, particularly the Liverpool Mercury.  Caine also acted as a freelance theatre critic.

Caine met Bram Stoker and they became good friends. Stoker was subsequently to dedicate his famous novel Dracula to Caine, under the nickname "Hommy-Beg.

In 1897 Caine's The Christian was published. It was the first novel in Britain to sell over a million copies.  Caine was an enormously popular and best-selling author in his time. Crowds would gather outside his houses hoping to get a glimpse of him.

Caine and his wife, Mary Chandler, had two sons, Ralph and Derwent.  Hall's illegitimate daughter, Elin, was brought up as Caine and Mary's child.

In August 1931 at age 78 Caine slipped into a coma and died. On his death certificate was the diagnosis of "cardiac syncope". He is buried at Kirk Maughold's churchyard.