Britannia's Guile by Antoine Vanner
1877: Lieutenant Nicholas Dawlish is hungry for promotion. He's 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. 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?Britannia's Guile is set early in the Dawlish Chronicles series (directly ahead of Britannia's Wolf) and tells how Dawlish met several people who will play major roles in his future career. And they may not all be as they seem . . .He says: I find the late Victorian era, roughly 1870 to 1900, fascinating because for my baby-boomer generation it's 'the day before yesterday'. It's history that you can almost touch. Our grandparents grew up in that period and you heard a lot from them about it. So much in that time was so similar to what we still have today that you feel you could live easily in it, and then you hit some aspects - especially those associated with social conventions and attitudes - that make it seem wholly alien. It was a time of change on every front - intellectual, scientific, medical, social, political and technological - and yet people seem to have accommodated to these rapid changes very well.
A revolution occurred in naval technology, Vanner says. The Royal Navy that went to war with Russia in 1854 was virtually unchanged from that of Nelson's time, but within five decades the World War 1 navy of dreadnoughts, battle-cruisers, submarines, wireless and the first aircraft carriers was in place and Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty. And individual officers didn't just live through these changes - they conceived and managed them. Nicholas Dawlish, hero of my Dawlish Chronicles series, is just such an officer and he's determined to use the cutting-edge technology of his time to advance his career.
Vanner's books play out against a background of growing international tension. There was little open confrontation between the great powers - Britain, France and Russia, with Germany, Japan and the United States catching up - but their rivalries were often played out by proxies, just as the Communist and Western blocks did during the Cold War. And the challenges Dawlish encounters are in such ill-defined and un-admitted jostling for power.
To learn more about Nicholas Dawlish and his world, and to contact Antoine Vanner with your comments and queries, checkout www.dawlishchronicles.com
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781943404384 |
| ISBN 10 | 1943404380 |
| Title | Britannia's Guile |
| Author | Antoine Vanner |
| Series | Dawlish Chronicles |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Old Salt Press |
| Year published | 2021-12-03 |
| Number of pages | 296 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |