Author:Alexander Kent
Fans of Patrick O'Brian and C. S. Forester will love this engrossing and enthralling naval adventure from multi-million copy seller Alexander Kent. You'll be gripped from page one!
'One of our foremost writers of naval fiction' -- Sunday Times
'As a former naval officer, Alexander Kent knows what it is like to be at sea' -- The Times
'Impossible to put down!' -- ***** Reader review
'Plenty of action and intrigue to keep you wanting to read just one more chapter' -- ***** Reader review
'As ever, the author keeps you totally involved. A true page turner.' -- ***** Reader review
'A jolly good read and difficult to put down' -- ***** Reader review
'Outstanding' -- ***** Reader review
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1794: as the year draws to a close Richard Bolitho, commanding the old Hyperion, leaves Plymouth to join a squadron blockading the rising power of Revolutionary France. After six months of repairs his ship is ready to fight again, but her company is mostly raw and untrained.
Unfortunately, Bolitho finds himself under a commodore who is no match for the French admiral, Lequiller, whose powerful squadron uses guile and ruthless determination to elude him and vanish into the Atlantic. Hyperion gives chase, the desperate voyage taking them from the Bay of Biscay's squall to the heat of the Caribbean - and for each mile sailed and every battle fought, Bolitho finds himself being forced into the ever more demanding role of strategist and squadron commander.
Is he up to the challenge?
Bolitho's adventures continue in The Flag Captain.
Taut ...full of suspense...bewitching
—— Ruth Scurr , ObserverTHRILLING...a terrific book, accomplished in its poised, imaginative storytelling and its vivid, sensual rendering of landscape and character, emotion and memory
—— The TimesAn intelligent and terrifyingly plausible meditation
—— Sunday TelegraphA sumptuously shaded portrait of a private, lonely place and its stranded people
—— IndependentTremain is a writer of particular elegance and control, and her story unfolds from its arresting first scene to its luminous final image as gracefully as a ballet
—— The Telegraph, Review MagazineThe unravelling web of lies and deceit is a gripping tale that holds the reader until the very last page
—— Eve Middleton , Living FranceThe tremendous Tremain is on top form
—— Michael Arditti , Daily MailTruly wonderful, disturbing and thrilling story
—— Sunday ExpressWith wonderful skill, [Tremain] shows the ripples that circle these two unhappy people...brilliantly evoked
—— Sarah Hayes , TabletTremain is a writer whose observations we trust... Equally compelling are her descriptions of the suffering of her characters...Trespass is full of such particular insights
—— Lindsay Duguid , The Sunday TimesIrresistibly, Tremain leads you into the dark heart of her artful work with prose that is scalpel sharp
—— Stephanie Cross , The LadyA dark, thrilling exploration of the nature of revenge and the legacy of damaged family history
—— Marie ClaireDeft new novel... Tremain is such an assured and measured writer
—— Sebastian Sme , SpectatorTremain expertly maintains the suspense. As one would expect from so gifted a storyteller...much more is on offer than the pleasures of detection
—— Pamela Norris , Literary ReviewA novel in which humour, pathos and suspense are sewn together with practised skill
—— Edmund Gordon , Times Literary SupplementSinister, shocking and extremely powerful
—— Woman & HomeWonderful
—— RedHer writing is always thrilling and this is much more than simply a page-turner
—— Jane Wheatley , The TimesA successful novel, well made and written with a light touch
—— Alex Clark , The GuardianIt is beautifully written, and elegantly edited, and manages to pack in vivid characterisations built on tragic family histories... With its strong structure and interesting themes, it could be a textbook example of how to write a modern novel
—— Third WaySatisfying death-blow to place-in-the-sun escapism
—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent Summer ReadsA compelling novel
—— TatlerA wry family black comedy, a study in revenge, and an unlikely, if sinister, thriller...a characteristically intelligent, well constructed narrative... The prose is precise and fluent, the tone is neutral, and Tremain makes effective use of the fact that many adults remain children
—— Eileen Battersby , The Irish TimesA criss-crossing, sinuous tale of muted passion and sibling rivarly - and affection - set in the Cevennes. Its peculiar, particular atmosphere is conjured perfectly
—— Erica Wagner , The Times, Christmas round upA haunting and perfectly poised tale of incest and antiques.
—— Frances Wilson , Daily Telegraph, Christmas round upCreepily affecting
—— Katy Guest , Independent on Sunday, Christmas round upChilling and vivid
—— Charlotte Vowden , Daily ExpressSurely one of the most versatile novelists writing today... The scene-setting opening is languorous and beautiful, giving full rein to Tremain's descriptive gifts... A disturbing tale and one rich in detail
—— Daily ExpressIntriguing
—— James Urquhart , Financial TimesTremain expertly heightens the tension in a cleverly fashioned and astutely observed novel that reads like a cross between Ruth Rendell and Jean de Florette
—— Simon Shaw , Mail on SundayTremain's extraordinary imagination has produced a powerful, unsettling novel in which two worlds and cultures collide
—— Cath Kidson MagazineTremain writes about this part of France so well because she has known it since childhood, and she captures a sensuality in the landscape that is both attractive and eerie... It is an enthralling book about the catastrophic disruption honesty can bring
—— Siobhan Kane , Irish TimesThe novel has all the formal structure of a medieval morality tale, along with its traditional dichotomies: rus and urbe, avarice and asceticism, chastity and lust
—— GuardianRose Tremain's thrilling Trespass is set in an obsure valley in Southern France... To be read slowly; Tremain's writing is too exquisite to hurry
—— The TimesTimeless but rooted; tangible but otherworldly. Meticulously plotted, with the musty sadness that comes of cleaving to the past, Trespass will reward your reading time
—— Scotland on SundayRose Tremain's novel begins with a scream and barely loosens its grip amid the sumptuously written pages that follow...subtly harnesses the stifling heat and dangerously feral landscape of southern France to unspool a psychologically disconcerting story of family skeletons and outsider tensions
—— MetroLike a sinister edition of A Place In the Sun directed by Alfred Hitchcock, with the depth and subtlety that make the book far more than a mere thriller
—— You Magazine (Daily Mail)