Spanish Bayonet

On the eve of departure from hunger-stricken Minorca in Easter 1769, Sebastian Zafortezas stands among dancers and mourners in Port Mahon, a young man torn between the ache of leaving home and the fragile hope of a new life in Florida. In the swirl of music, ritual, and communal pride, a frightened monkey bursts into the celebration and clings to him, and Sebastian's decision to protect it reveals a loneliness as deep as the animal's own. The two will journey together toward an uncertain future, bound by compassion and need. Across the sea, Andrew Beard, the son of a prosperous New York merchant, sails toward St. Augustine aboard the Pride of the Colonies, carrying memories of privilege, Dutch-American family pride, and a city unsettled by imperial taxes, protests, and revolutionary agitation. What begins as a business errand becomes an education in power as his father strips away his romantic notions of gentility and sends him south as an observer and agent in the Floridas, where plantation ambition, colonial loyalty, and family secrets collide. As Andrew moves deeper into this world, he is drawn into the dangerous ambitions of Sparta Gentian and her mother, whose ruthless schemes turn marriage, scandal, and wealth into instruments of control. A feverish dinner scene and an ensuing descent into dread expose the corruption beneath polished manners, leaving Andrew shaken, disillusioned, and forced to confront the hidden violence shaping both private lives and a colony on the brink. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.