The Gypsy’s Bane

By Sarah Guthrie

The Gypsy’s Bane is set in rural Cumbria during the year of 1807. The plot centres round a love triangle between Cuthbert, the Squire of the manor who owns a corn mill, his wife, Sylvia, and Bertha, a local gypsy girl. Cuthbert also owns the shipping rights to a vessel called the Mary Magdalene. It trades corn, leather, and gun powder to the Caribbean in return for rum, nutmeg and tobacco. He is warned by Bertha that the ship will be taken by pirates and two shipping merchants will also be involved in the looting on its return journey to Whitehaven. Could these be the same shipping merchants that swindled his father fifteen years ago? Cuthbert is taken in by Bertha’s advice and her seductive ploy to ensnare him with her spells of black magic. Does this mean doom for Cuthbert and Sylvia’s marriage, or will good fortune prevail in the form of Winston, a black slave.