17th century Swashbuckling Romance.

Reviewed by Francine.

Set in Devon (England) 1627, the reign of Charles I, the author presents the reader with a slow burn romance and swashbuckling tale of derring-do. Thus three brothers whose major skill is that as an acrobatic trio, their secondary skill base is carpentry which lends favour to their labour in exchange for coin. Whilst a young woman met within a tavern soon enlists Gabriel and his brothers’ to assist with a schoolroom, a trusting bond grows between Gabriel and Perspicacity and love inevitably blossoms. But as with all travelling troupes of entertainers’ opportunities arise and move on they must, and those left behind enact their lives as fate dictates.

By the time the trio return to Devon, great interest is shown in Gabriel and his brothers’ performances by a man of noble countenance which is somewhat baffling, until Gabriel learns of a wicked gut-wrenching deed by others. Hence, Gabriel and de Wolf have every reason to band together. Notorious Barbary pirates holding prisoners on Lundy Island are a force to be reckoned with in more ways than one. Not only do they trade in slaves they barter and trade over kidnap victims from rich family folds. Situated in the Bristol Channel the island is a natural rock fortress, the castle less so, but can Gabriel and de Wolf rescue the women they love from the island and survive to tell the tale? Enjoy!

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Regency Romance

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.

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