Free from jail, John Pearce is not free from the smugglers whose boat he stole – they want bloody revenge and are prepared to chase him to the ends of the earth to get it.

The court martial papers that threaten to also damn Pearce are at risk due to the calculating schemes of Ralph Barclay. But the danger is only just beginning, for Pearce must undertake a dangerous mission in support of a massive revolt in the Vendee region of France. As high rebellious ambition turns to bloody disaster, Pearce faces real peril, climaxing in one of the greatest battles of the Revolutionary War: the Battle of the Glorious First of June.

DAVID DONACHIE was born in Edinburgh in 1944 and has had a variety of jobs, including selling everything from business machines to soap. He has always had an abiding interest in the naval history of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The author of a number of bestselling books, he know lives in Deal with his wife, the novelist Sarah Grazebrook and their two children.

For lovers of a sea-yarn there's plenty of salty business, both aship and ashore… The author knows his 18th-century sea lore.   -- Historical Novels Review