Synopsis
From the author of "The Accident", this novel begins with the story of William Kite's first voyage to sea in a Liverpool slave ship. At the beginning of the Seven Years' War, Kite is about to embark on an adventure that will take him around the world.
Kirkus Reviews
Author of over 30 naval military books, including the Nathaniel Drinkwater series about the Napoleonic Wars, and the encyclopedic The History of the Ship (a well-received $60 coffee-table giant, 1998), Woodman now sets sail with a new series featuring William Kite at the start of the worldwide Seven Years War (1756—63). These are the days of the slave trade, and Kite, fleeing a charge of murder, hires onto the Enterprize, a Liverpool Guineaman, or slave ship, and finds himself bound for Africa. On the return voyage to the West Indies, yellow fever strikes the crew, who fall left and right, and Kite finds himself moved to care for the chained creatures below deck. After unloading in the Indies, the Enterprize heads for Jamaica with a consignment of slaves and load of rum and molasses for England when a hurricane strikes. Woodman is no Bernard Cornwell, and often has long background paragraphs that barely nudge the plot along. But you don't want to miss the diabolically barebreasted black Puella with her brace of pistols blowing down enemy boarders.