David Donachie è noto per i suoi coinvolgenti romanzi storici, in particolare quelli ambientati durante i conflitti navali del diciottesimo e diciannovesimo secolo. La sua vasta ricerca su questo periodo alimenta narrazioni ricche di dettagli autentici e atmosfera marittima. Attingendo a una carriera diversificata, Donachie porta una prospettiva unica al suo racconto, creando storie avvincenti che risuonano con i lettori. È un autore celebrato i cui ambientazioni storiche sono tanto un personaggio quanto le persone al loro interno.
Having evacuated the King and Queen of Naples ahead of Napoleon's advancing army, Nelson must now await developments in Sicily. In the meantime, he and Emma savor their passionate affair, and when Nelson travels back to Britain with the Hamiltons, he finds he is the toast of Europe. Finally he is given the chance he's been waiting for: off a little-known Spanish cape, called Trafalgar, he will show the world what he is made of!
It's 1784 and Nelson is sent to the Caribbean to enforce the hated Navigation Acts. While there, he marries Fanny Nisbet. Ordered next to the Mediterranean, he engages in a string of spectacular naval battles: Cape St Vincent, Tenerife, and the Nile. The ravages of war take their physical toll on Nelson, even as he gains the fame and honor he desperately craves.
1787: Captain Edward Brazier is wounded and in desperate need of medical attention, but those from whom he could seek help have no idea where he is--although neither do his enemies. With his beloved Betsey currently imprisoned by her brother Henry, who is considering committing her to an asylum to take her off his hands, time is running out for Brazier to rescue her and end the tyranny of the local smuggling ring of Deal once and for all.
Edward Brazier is enlisted by Prime Minister William Pitt to assist his investigation into smuggling activity in Deal. However, with his love Betsy now locked into a loveless marriage with Tom Spafford, a useless drunk, and living as a prisoner, Brazier is distracted from his mission.
Horatio Nelson is our most famous military hero. His statue dominates the capital, he has adorned our currency, his last words have passed into folklore, and HMS Victory, his flagship at Trafalgar, is the centrepiece of our naval heritage. On a Making Tide and Taken at the Flood (volume 2) will tell the story of our greatest military genius and his long-running love affair with Emma Hamilton; a love that transgressed class, position and social convention and which threatened them both with ruin. Starting with Nelson¿s arrival at Chatham aged 12 to join his first ship the Raisonable (moored next to his last, the Victory) and with Emma rejecting life as a domestic servant, On a Making Tide takes their story to 1798 and the battle of the Nile, the triumphant victory which secured Nelson¿s fame. Following both his exceptional career and Emma¿s spirited progress, it is a story of talent and character overcoming tradition and expectation; of a society on the cusp of the liberal 18th and conservative 19th centuries and the fate of two people caught in the middle of the change.
"1787: Captain Edward Brazier is on a mission. Recently paid off from his frigate and comfortably off with prize money, he is headed to Deal to propose marriage to young widow Betsey Langridge. He must navigate the bustle of the town's narrow streets that are busy with legal, illicit, and depraved business flowing from and around the ships at dock. But all does not go well; between Betsy's brother and guardian Henry Tulkington prohibiting the match, and Brazier marked out for trouble by a local smuggling gang, his plans fall into disarray. And when it slowly emerges that there may have been a decades-old injustice closer to home, Brazier is caught up in more than he'd bargained for"-- Provided by publisher
1795: Aufgebracht von der Fregatte Endymion, die von einem sadisten kommandiert wird, verliert der Freibeuter Harry Ludlow nicht nur die Hälfte seiner Männer und seinen treuen Freund Pender, sondern muß auch zusehen, wie diese illegal nach Westindien verschifft werden. Als er sich an die Verfolgung macht, geraten er und sein Bruder mitten in die Kämpfe zwischen Franzosen und Briten um die Kontrolle über die einträglichsten Handelsschifffahrtsstraßen der Welt...
1794: Nachdem Kaptitän Ludlow während seiner letzten Reise nur knapp dem Tod entronnen ist, erwarten er und sein Bruder, in England eiune vergleichsweise ungefährlcihe Ruhepause einlegen zu können. Doch schon im Ärmelkanal finden sich die beiden plötzlich in die Machtkämpfe zwischen rivalisierenden Schmugglerbanden verwickelt. In ihrer Not versuchen sie mit ihrer Fregatte den Hafen von Deal anzulaufen und landen in einer Gesellschaft, in der Verrat niemals vergeben oder vergessen wird.
New Orleans, 1795. Die Entdeckung eines verlassenen spanischen Handelsschiffs vor der Küste Amerikas stürzt die Ludlows in eine weitreichende Verschwörung, die von Eifersucht, Ehrgeiz und nationalistischem Eifer geprägt ist. Die Bucephalas liegt gefangen unter den gähnenden Mündungen der 32-Pfünder spanischen Kanonen im Hafenfort von New Orleans. Es wird schnell klar, dass die Flure der Residenz des Gouverneurs ebenso von Verrat, Doppelspiel und Mord belebt sind wie die Hinterhöfe der schwülen Stadt draußen. Harry Ludlow muss die Freiheit für sein Schiff in einem tödlichen Spiel gewinnen, das sich in den dunklen Wäldern des amerikanischen Hinterlands entfaltet.
Freibeuter-Kapitän Harry Ludlow und sein Bruder James sind im Jahre 1793 unfreiwillig Gast an Bord eines englischen Kriegsschiffes. Als der 1. Offizier ermordet und James verdächtigt wird, setzt Harry alles daran, dessen Unschuld zu beweisen.
Genua, 1794: Die Brüder Ludlow werden mit der Aufklärung des Mordes an einem englischen Kapitän beauftragt. Vor Ort stossen Harry und James auf ein Netz voller Intrigen, Heuchelei und Geldgier.
