“The Accidental Bootlegger” by Gail Hamilton

Sometimes a crazy gamble is a girl’s only choice even if it leaves her clutching a red-hot secret she must go to any lengths to hide.

As one of Britain’s unwanted “waifs and strays”, Katie has already survived near starvation as a street urchin, hair-raising
clashes with London’s underworld and efforts to drown her in the Thames. So when she finds clumsy kindness and enough to eat on a backwoods, hardscrabble Canadian farm, has she reached safety at last?

Hardly!

Fighting her way to womanhood, Katie can’t shake the stigma of charity girl, British home child, dodgy outsider consigned to the bottom of the local pecking order. Then, when her beloved rural haven suddenly crumbles, Katie must resort to her outlaw wits again. She hatches a desperate,half-cocked scheme that will tar her to the neck with scandal should anything go awry.

And so much does.Katie must call up every scrap of hardiness and ingenuity to survive yet again—if she can.  A tale told with humour and delight, also involving a practically useless Englishman, a malevolent pig, an amorous circus sharpshooter, a sinking schooner and a village full of irate women who will do their duty if it kills them.

You don’t want to miss the action.