TO THE BITTER END Format: Paperback

The year is 1708, and it is a dramatic time in England's seafaring history as the English and the French are battling it out for control of Canada in the frozen waters off the coast of Newfoundland. Matthew Loftus has come a long way from his humble beginnings as an orphan in Whitby. Now a successful fur trader sailing the Newfoundland coast, he wants to put his skirmishes with privateers and pirates behind him—until the English Navy sails into the colony of Esperantia and puts it under their protection. Forced by the Navy to sail a rescue mission to Hudson's Bay, Matthew discovers that the true agenda is to foil the French. In the ensuing clash of wills, Matthew escapes with his life but not his ship. He must navigate his own way back through the hostile waters of the Canadian coast and prevent the colony from falling into the wrong hands, as well as keep the woman he loves from marrying his rival.

Marcus Palliser was an American-born, British-based novelist. He gave up a career as an executive in corporate PR to work as a freelance writer and sail. In the late 1990s, he spent three years living aboard a small yacht, sailing in the Mediterranean and crossing the Atlantic single-handed. He lived in Truro, Cornwall, near some of the most dramatic seacoasts in the world.