A Flag of Truce (The John Pearce Naval Series) - Softcover

Donachie, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0749079886 ISBN 13: 9780749079888

Publisher: Allison and Busby, 2009

Synopsis

John Pearce comes back from Corsica demanding that Captain Barclay of HMS Brilliant, the man who originally pressed him and his fellow Pelicans into the Navy, be tried at home by a civilian court. Against the background of the ongoing siege of Toulon and with the Revolutionary Army massing to attack, no-one in authority sees this as a good time to accede to his requests.

Barclay’s patron Admiral Hotham contrives a way out of the dilemma. He staffs the ship Pearce captured in Corsica with members of the Revolutionary Navy refusing to serve under the Bourbon flag and gives it to Henry Digby, with Pearce and his Pelicans under him, so that they may transport the renegade French sailors to an Atlantic port and set them free. Whilst Pearce is gone Hotham fixes a court martial where Barclay is found innocent for lack of evidence, a ruse that leads to an open breach with his wife Emily.

Pearce eventually returns to the siege having survived conflict on both land and water only to find Barclay acquitted and exempt from further trial under the law of double jeopardy. Despite clear warnings not to do so he begins a romance with Emily Barclay, but mayhem surrounds the evacuation of Toulon and the revolutionary forces, including Napoleon Bonaparte, are closing in to retake the port...

About this title

About the Author:

DAVID DONACHIE was born in Edinburgh in 1944 and has had a variety of jobs, including selling everything from business machines to soap. He has always had an abiding interest in the naval history of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The author of a number of bestselling books, he know lives in Deal with his wife, the novelist Sarah Grazebrook and their two children.

Review:

"I enjoyed this. Donachie is good at plot and the various strands: the court-martial, Pearce’s exploits and his relationship with Emily, intertwine satisfactorily and help to keep up the tension." (Historical Novels Review)

About this edition

• Publisher: Allison and Busby
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0749079886
• ISBN 13: 9780749079888
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288