All credit to Antoine Vanner for his creation of the Dawlish series of naval historical fiction novels. I suspect many of his readers, like me, will share his fascination and enjoyment from the fine examples of similar works from C S Forester, Dudley Pope, ‘Alexander Kent’ (Douglas Reeman), and - more recently - Patrick O’Brian peerless series of Aubrey and Maturin novels. The decision to place the hero’s exploits in the Victorian navy is understandable, given the crowded years of Nelson’s navy. In this genre, where Hornblower, Ramage, Bolitho and Aubrey have scavenged every bit of naval action, leaving poor pickings for a newcomer. Vanner does a first class job in his attempts to capture the nature of the navy during these times of fast moving innovation in propulsion and armaments. However, I suspect I may not be alone in missing the rather more intimate relationship between sailors, ocean and wooden vessel that is such a central part of the navy of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century.

Vanner’s storytelling skills are much in evidence as the plot in ‘Britannia’s Guile’ unfolds. Characters are well drawn without too much recourse to clichés and the action sequences are well-described, giving the reader a front row seat in observing the action. If there were to be a modest criticism it would be the temptation the author occasionally succumbs to in expanding the narrative with rather too much extraneous material, reflected in the length of the novel. A rather sharper use of the editing scissors might have improved the fluency of the novel.

Make no mistake, however, for fans of naval historical fiction this series stands with the best and ‘Britannia’s Guile’ is a worthy new recruit to the series,

Strongly recommended.