I’m delighted to announce the launch of my new book, Battle’s Flood, the second title in the ‘Jack Stannard of the Navy Royal’ trilogy! Published by the lovely people at Canelo, Battle’s Flood is now available for pre-order and will be released on 14 November. As with the first book, Destiny’s Tide, this is currently available as an e-book only, so ongoing apologies to those of you who prefer to hold erstwhile trees in your hands.
Anyway, without further ado, here’s the cover reveal!
And here, for the first time on any platform, is a synopsis…
Battle’s Flood takes forward the story of the central character from Destiny’s Tide, Jack Stannard, an ambitious shipowner and sea-captain from the ancient, decayed port of Dunwich, ‘England’s Atlantis’ (which, incidentally, is now being held up as a potent example of the potential effects of climate change). A prologue, set ten years after the events of Destiny’s Tide during the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary, reintroduces us to his headstrong daughter Meg, now grown to adulthood, and sees Jack have a strange encounter with one of the most sinister pillars of Imperial Spain’s ‘black legend’. Fast forward another twelve years to 1567, and the second of Jack’s children, Tom, joins him on centre stage. Now a highly competent ship master and trusty lieutenant to his father, Tom seems to be happily married to a wife who connects the Stannards to one of England’s most prominent seafaring dynasties, the Hawkinses of Plymouth. But not all is as it seems, either in Tom’s domestic life or in the Stannards’ dealings with John Hawkins and his young kinsman Francis Drake. Powerful forces at the court of Queen Elizabeth I have secretive plans for Jack and Tom – plans which send them on the notorious voyage of Drake and Hawkins to the coast of west Africa and then on to the Spanish-controlled Caribbean. Meanwhile in Dunwich, Meg, who harbours treasonable secrets of her own, strives to undermine the schemes of her stepmother and half-siblings, who have recruited an unlikely ally in the shape of one of the oldest and deadliest enemies of the Stannards.
Battle’s Flood moves to a dramatic and bloody climax in the historical battle of San Juan de Ulua, when Jack and Tom Stannard fight for their lives and face their destinies…
Battle’s Flood – out on 14 November!
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I’m publishing this post on 21 October, and cognoscenti of British naval history will be well aware of the significance of the date. A happy Trafalgar Day to all, and once the sun is above the yardarm, please raise a glass with me to toast the Immortal Memory.
Dear David,
It is not a question of preferring a paper book to an e-book, it is simply the fact that Amazon UK won’t sell Kindles to countries outside the UK. Being Danish I am therefore cut off from reading your most recent books, not only in this series but also in the Quinton series and after having spent a considerable amount of money getting hold of the Quinton books in paper form it is extremely frustrating to have to give up the series simply because the books are not available to me anymore.
I have so enjoyed your books and I do hope that the recent ones will be out in paper form one day. They deserve to be.
Regards,
Susanne
Sorry to hear that, Susanne, but thank you for your lovely comment about my books. I, too, want nothing more than to see all my titles available in print again, and hopefully we’ll be able to achieve that goal in the near future. More immediately, though, is it possible for you to get Kindles via the German Amazon site? I see that Battle’s Flood and all my other titles are available for Kindle on that – I know readers in the Netherlands have been able to get them this way.