The Sea of Silence: A Nathan Peake Novel
In the tradition of Hornblower and Aubrey/Maturin comes this third in a new series of Napoleonic seafaring adventures. “Jane Austen for boys” I’ve heard such books called, although Austen gives us few hints at the broader world events that were the background for her desperate marriage markets.
Peace has broken out between France and Britain in 1801, leaving our half-British, half-American hero Nathan Peake home from the sea and at loose ends. Is he to live with his mother for the rest of his life? Fortunately, Baron Horatio Nelson is also grounded, although the great commander’s living arrangements are much more interesting: a ménage à trois with his lover Emma, Lady Hamilton and her long-suffering husband. Nelson calls on Peake to reform a relationship with Gilbert Imlay, with whom I was not acquainted before, but this scoundrel of the early days of the American Republic should lay to rest any lingering or universal worship of the Founding Fathers.
Imlay and Peake are to sail the Caribbean and run guns for General Toussaint L’Ouverture and his slave rebellion in what is now Haiti, and thus undermine any French peace gains. Napoleon’s sister Pauline puts in a noteworthy appearance.
Sly humor, more direct cinematic storytelling, and the shedding of some of the Patrick O’Brian ballast of seafaring words (which I actually love) make for a quick and entertaining read about a corner of this century we often ignore.
