First Epigraph Released for The Hallmarked Man: More Sark and More Silver.

     The Hallmarked Man still does not not have a release date, but there is some news about at least one of the epigraphs from the author's tweets. 

    The quotation, in accordance with the Sark pictures and silver ship and bracelet already given as clues, comes from John Oxenham's 1910 novel, A Maid of the Silver Sea, a novel set on Sark during the 1830's, a period where the relatively isolated island was invaded by miners, many from Cornwall, seeking their fortune in silver mines. Happily for cash-strapped Strike fans, this book is free for the reading at Project Gutenberg. I downloaded it immediately and got through it in one evening, the tome being much shorter than any of the Strike books. Some interesting tidbits about the book, the author and what it might mean for The Hallmarked Man are coming up, after the jump. 

    The second tweeted tidbit indicated that epigraphs will be like those of The Silkworm, which were derived from assorted Jacobean revenge dramas and The Ink Black Heart, which came from assorted Victorian women poets, rather than from a single source as in Lethal White (Ibsen's Rosmersholm), Troubled Blood (Spencer's The Faerie Queen) and The Running Grave (the I Ching). 

    So who is John Oxenham?  Like Robert Galbraith, this name is a pseudonym; the writer's real name was William Arthur Dunkerley. Well-known in his lifetime for his novels and poems, he also wrote non-fiction under the name Julian Ross.  Oxenham was a man of strong faith and a longtime deacon in his church; many of his poems and novels have strong religious themes. Many of his poems were adapted into hymns. He also wrote one of the first detective stories to feature a serial killer, A Mystery of the Underground, set on the London Underground and credited with scaring passengers away from riding on Tuesdays, the day the killer always struck.  Yes, this book is next on my reading list!

    A Maid of the Silver Sea is a fascinating story; part thriller and part romance. The title maiden is Nance Hamon, a beautiful, courageous and pious young girl who loves the island of Sark and hates the mining company, the workers it has brought in and the fact that her father is sinking all his money into the endeavor. She also has a despicable and resentful older half-brother, Tom, who is determined to make her life miserable. Hmmm---  shades of John Bristow, Freddie Chiswell and Abigail Glover, anyone? While we aren't treated to any siblicides in this book, a flashback to Nance's childhood tells us that she prayed nightly for big brother's death. 

    When Stephen Gard, a Cornishman, arrives to take over management of the mines and winds up boarding with Nance's family, it does not take long for her to "shine through her modest veiling" and capture his heart. It takes considerably more time for Nance to warm up to Gard, but when he is falsely accused of murder, her bravery, compassion, physical prowess and knowledge of the sea come in handy.  I won't spoil the rest of it for you, but the prayers for death turn into prayers for life:

He knelt down there in the darkness, with his face towards the Race where Nance was battling the hungry black waters, and he prayed for her safety as he had never prayed for anything in his life before. 

    If this book is connected thematically to major storyline, as so many of Mr. Galbraith's past epigraphs have been, then it offers from potentially quite interesting ideas for plots.

• A long-developing romance between a courageous young woman and a Cornishman will certainly set the Strellacott Shippers' hearts aflutter. 
• We also could see Robin returning the favor and saving Strike's life in this volume.
• Another possibility is that the major mystery will involve clearing someone falsely accused of a crime. 
• Finally, given that every darn clue we have been given so far seems to come back to silver, it is possible our heroes will find themselves on a literal treasure hunt. 
• Strike might even find himself finally visiting the smugglers' caves that he missed as a preschooler with Dave Polworth. 

    The next question: what could the other sources of epigraphs be?  Oxenham was a prolific enough writer, with over 40 novels and multiple poems to his name, that epigraphs could easily come from his other works.  Or, there could be other works of fiction from a similar era.  Writers to whom Oxenham is often compared include Rudyard Kipling, Robert W. Service and John Masefield. 

    But, there are also other possibilities.  Beatrice Groves has already suggested a list of other books with "silver" in the title:

Another interesting possibility would be if Mr. Galbraith decided to keep it in the family, and use quotations from John Oxenham's daughter Elsie, author of the much-loved and very lengthy series of British schoolgirl fiction, The Abbey Girls, which began publication only four years after A Maid of the Silver Sea was published. Given the legacy that Harry Potter owes to British schoolboy fiction, this would bring JKR's writing full circle. 

    All of you eagerly anticipating The Hallmarked Man should proceed immediately to Project Gutenberg or Amazon, and make the acquaintance of Nance and Gard. With "only" five other sources for epigraphs, it is likely that other quotations from A Maid of the Silver Sea will find their way into the text. 

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