Seaflower: Thomas Kydd 3 - Hardcover

Stockwin, Julian

4.15

1,182 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0340794771 ISBN 13: 9780340794777

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, 2003

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It is two years since Thomas Paine Kydd was spirited away in the night to serve his country aboard the old line-of-battle ship Duke William. Now, together with his high-born friend Nicholas Renzi and other members of the ill-fated Artemis, Tom is a shipwrecked sailor back in the land of his birth. They find themselves waiting to be summoned as court martial witnesses, and in a political act to shield an officer's reputation, they are shipped out in haste to the Caribbean - where sugar is king and yellow jack a fearsome peril.

A spell ashore at the dockyard in Antigua shows Kydd another side of the Royal Navy, the complexities of maintaining Britain's fighting ships around the world. There he also has to deal with a number of personal challenges and in so doing earns the ire of the feared master shipwright. Summarily dismissed from the dockyard, Kydd faces an unknown future.

Renzi contrives to reunite the old crew of Artemis in Seaflower, a graceful and trim little topsail cutter, that Kydd fell in love with the first time he saw her. At first the plucky craft brings them luck and fortune but she is eventually overwhelmed by the raw forces of the sea - and Kydd finds his seamanship, tenacity and courage put to the ultimate test.

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Review:

'A first class tale of 18th Century seamen and full of action, which makes a very good read.' PUBLISHING NEWS

Praise for Julian Stockwin's previous books:
'I was soon turning over the pages almost indecently fast ... Roll on, the promised adventures of Kydd and Renzi.'

(Independent)

The vantage point of the common sailor gives the nautical novel a fresh twist. In Stockwin's hands the sea story will continue to entrance readers across the world. (Guardian)

Rousing naval adventure series . . . Stockwin's richly detailed, if idealized, portrait of life on ship and shore in Britain's oceanic empire is engrossing. He writes evocatively of shipboard routine, the panic and confusion of combat, and the terrifying appraoch of a storm at sea, and he knows how to stage enthralling action scenes. His ability to tap into male wish-fulfilment will ensure a growing readership (Publishers Weekly)

Gripping ... Rich in action and full of interesting characters, this thrilling novel leaves you in awe of the 18th-century seaman. (Peterborough Evening Telegraph)

'As with the previous books, Seaflower is a busy story, crammed with events but never predictable. Like all good sea stories, it takes you to strange and wonderful places. There are hurricanes and battles and intrigues . . . Fans of naval fiction, or just whose who appreciate a good yarn, will not want to miss it.' West Australian on Seaflower

An absolute delight for lovers of naval fiction in the great age of sail. It's a worthy companion to Forester, O'Brian, Kent and Pope. (Good Reading Magazine)

From the Author:

I am a visile – I have to "see" things in my mind’s eye before I can write about them. One of the special pleasures of writing the Kydd series is the location research. Kathy and I have travelled around the world following in Kydd’s footsteps, recreating in our imagination the rich and colourful eighteenth century of the Georgian navy, at sea and ashore. For this book we journeyed to the Caribbean where, if you look past the gaudy tourist haunts, you can find so many tactile relics of rousing times past. English Harbour in Antigua, for instance, where Kydd suffered and loved, remains much as he would remember it. As always, my tales are based on actual historical events – I feel it would be a great injustice to those I write about were this not so.

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