The King's Coat
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3.9 • 38 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
His exploits echo with the bustle of crowded ports and the crash of naval warfare…
It is 1780 and seventeen-year-old Alan Lewrie is a brash young libertine with a head full of dreams. When he is found in bed with the wrong woman, he is forced to leave his profligacy behind for a new life at sea.
Though sickness and hard labour await him aboard the tall-masted Ariadne, Lewrie finds himself gradually adapting to the world of a midshipman.
But as he heads for the war-torn Americas into a hail of cannonballs, will he ever catch wind of the plot brewing against him back at home?
The first Alan Lewrie novel, this action-packed naval adventure is perfect for fans of Patrick O’Brian, Julian Stockwin and C.S. Forester
Praise for The King's Coat
‘You could get addicted to this series. Easily.’ New York Times Book Review
‘The best naval series since C. S. Forester . . . Recommended.’ Library Journal
‘Fast-moving. . . A hugely likeable hero, a huge cast of sharply drawn supporting characters: there's nothing missing. Wonderful stuff.’ Kirkus Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Comparisons will be made between Midshipman Alan Lewrie and Forester's Horatio Hornblower, but this auspicious beginning of a series has a very modern sensibility. In 1780, at the age of 17, our hero, bastard son of Sir Hugo Willoughby, is already a practicing rake in London. Caught in flagrante with his sluttish half-sister, he is banished to the Navy in a nasty ploy by Sir Hugo to rob the boy of his inheritance. During Alan's year on the 64-gun Adriadne , on the American-built schooner Parrot and on the frigate Desperate , he becomes an adept, even valiant sailor. There are foes at sea (a snotty fellow midshipman, a sanctimonious captain, American rebels) and ashore (Sir Hugo and minions), but there are also friends, notably Lt. Kenyon, skipper of the Parrot , and Lucy Beauman, beautiful niece of an admiral. Lambdin's crisp, gory action scenes possibly are marred for landlubbers by heavy nautical jargon, but graphic ribaldry involving a couple of older ladies needs no translation.
