Reviewed by Francine:
When a book has been read and put aside with sense of contentment, which
one derives from a good book, and a month later one can remember the characters
and the name of a schooner as vividly as when reading the story, then the
author has achieved his or her aim. As with straight historical fiction, onus lies
with authors of Historical Romance
to likewise depict a chosen historical period with sense of historical knowledge,
not merely place characters in a historical setting and assume readers will truly
feel transported to the past. Thus, I can commend and recommend this novel as a
thoroughly entertaining and compulsive read. Not only are the characters fully-fleshed,
their quirks, and inner anxieties add to the tensions of traversing dangerous
waters in which Barbary pirates abound, For Kit Hardacre, captain of the Calliope,
the past could so easily repeat itself, he fears it, he knows the pain and
humiliation of becoming a Captive of the Corsairs, and he has the responsibility
of two genteel women passengers to protect and deliver safe to foreign shores.
To reveal more of this action adventure would be to spoil it for future
readers, suffice to say, from the shores of England to the shores of Sicily,
the rigours of seamanship, sense of revenge, and romantic notions, test the
resolve of both Kit and Sophia Greene as each battle inner emotions en route. Whilst
for Kit, the consequences of recognisable sails on the horizon indeed spell imminent
disaster and a fate worse than death for all. A thrill-packed read!
Reviewer asides: This novel is set at a time when the American navy
having previously engaged in war with the Barbary Pirates from 1801-1805 and
again later in a second war, but it didn’t deter or prevent the pirates
continuing with heinous crimes. Hence, by 1815 a concerted effort between the British
and Dutch navies with assaults on the North African coast, and raids on other
ports around the Mediterranean Sea, by the close of 1816 the Barbary pirates
were brought to book, crushed, and suffered a slow and gruesome death in the
Port of Bristol. Subsequently, 4,000 + Christian slaves were rescued and
repatriated to homelands.
