The Black Swan. This item is unavailable.The Black Swan

When Priscilla Harradine travels back to England accompanied by the rather dull Major Sands, she has no cause to expect her journey will be anything other than uneventful. But also on board the Centaur is Charles de Bernis—a mysterious and intriguing buccaneer. Just as their friendship is beginning to blossom, a dark figure from Bernis's past emerges to propel them into a thrilling and perilous adventure, taking them right to the heart of pirate life.

Rafael Sabatini was born to an English mother and Italian father, both well-known opera singers. At seventeen Sabatini moved to England, where, after a brief stint in the business world, he started to write. His major breakthrough came with Scaramouche, which became an international bestseller and was followed by the equally successful Captain Blood. All his earlier books were then rushed into reprint. Many of his novels were subsequently adapted into classic films which appealed to both a male and female market with their drama, romance and action, set against a variety of historical settings. 'One wonders if there is another storyteller so adroit at filling his pages with intrigue and counter-intrigue, with danger threaded with romance, with a background of lavish colour, of silks and velvets, of swords and jewels' - Daily Telegraph