Hannibal Marks is one of a trilogy of novels that intertwine fact, folklore, rumour, speculation, and fiction, the audiobook is based on the lives of four generations of Hannibal Marks, the Cornish smuggling family, from the mid 1700s to the mid 1800s in South East Cornwall and the surrounding area.

On the death of his wife and children in the mid 1700s, Hannibal Marks 1st leaves the Cornish town of Launceston where he has been doled love, tragedy and adventure, in equal measure.

He slowly makes his way down river to the coastal epicentre of the smuggling trade in Cornwall, Cawsand, and its neighbouring settlements.

Finding love again, he marries Christian Wyvell, and prospers handsomely from smuggling. Christian was one of the few women at that time on the front line of the dangerous smuggling business where murder, bribery, forgery, and more are tools of the trade as much as fearless seamanship and daring.

His grandson Hannibal 3rd, is not quite so fortunate in escaping the wrath of the authorities. He has to be broken out of Bodmin gaol, with the help of influential friends and the aging Hannibal 2nd.

Hannibal 4th, following his father's lucky escape from the gallows, flees capture and heads to New Zealand after a customs preventative man meets his death.

The family remain in the area to this day. The novelist is directly descended from Hannibal Marks, lives in their houses and walks their streets. The open seas at Prideaux Skelton’s door were once the battleground where Hannibal Marks fought for supremacy against the authorities.

The main villages and locations in the audiobook remain very much in the same shape as they were in the late 1700s with their ancient cottages, harbours, estates and churches, forming the backdrop. 

Narrated by Prideaux Skelton and Rusty Russell. Music and sound effects composed and arranged by Elizabeth Sidebotham. Violin and flute compositions and arrangements by Kira. Half Way Harmony, Kingsamd, sing Zachy's Shanty.