Britannia's Guile
The Dawlish Chronicles January - August 1877
by Antoine Vanner
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Pub Date Dec 10 2021 | Archive Date Jan 09 2022
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Description
1877: Lieutenant Nicholas Dawlish is hungry for promotion. He has chosen service on the Royal Navy’s hazardous Anti-Slavery patrol off East Africa for the opportunities it brings to make his name. But a shipment of slaves has slipped through his fingers and now his reputation, and his chance of promotion, are at risk. He’ll stop at nothing to save them, even if the means are illegal . . .
But greater events are underway in Europe. The Russian and Ottoman Empires are drifting ever closer to a war that could draw in other great powers. And Britain cannot stand aside – a Russian victory would spell disaster for her strategic links to India.
The Royal Navy is preparing for a war that might never take place. Dozens of young officers, all as qualified as Dawlish, are hoping for their own commands. He’s just one of many . . . and he lacks the advantages of patronage or family influence.
But only a handful of powerful men know how unexpectedly vulnerable Britain will be if war comes. Pre-emptive action is necessary to neutralise it. Could this offer Dawlish his chance to advance?
Far from civilisation, dependent on a new and as yet unproven weapon, he’ll face a clever and ruthless enemy in unforeseeable and appalling circumstances.
Only stubborn resolution – and unlikely allies -- can bring him through. But at what price?
This volume in the Dawlish Chronicles series, Britannia’s Guile, is set directly ahead of the action in Britannia’s Wolf. It tells how Nicholas Dawlish came to meet several people who will have a massive impact on his future career. And they may not all be as they seem . . .
Why The Dawlish Chronicles Series?
“I’ve enjoyed historical naval fiction since I was introduced to C.S. Forester’s Hornblower books when I was a boy,” says author Antoine Vanner. “I’ve never tired since of stories of action and adventure by land and by sea. The Napoleonic era has however come to dominate the war and military fiction genre but the century that followed it was one no less exciting, an added attraction being the arrival and adoption of so much new technology. I’ve therefore chosen the late 19th Century – a time of massive political, social, economic, scientific and technological change – as the setting for the Dawlish Chronicles. My novels have as their settings actual events of the international power-games of the period and real-life personalities usually play significant roles. Britannia’s Guile is no exception.
Available Editions
| ISBN | 9781943404360 |
| PRICE | $2.99 (USD) |
Links
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Kevin M, Reviewer
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.
