It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide
Success to the Brave

Success to the Brave

(The Richard Bolitho adventures: 17): a fast-paced naval page-turner from the master storyteller of the sea

Summary

Fans of Patrick O'Brian and C. S. Forester will love this gripping, all-guns-blazing naval adventure from multi-million copy seller Alexander Kent - full of passion and compassion, you'll won't be able to put this one down...!

'One of our foremost writers of naval fiction' --
Sunday Times
'Shipwreck, survival ... a spirited battle ... a splendid yarn'' -- The Times
'Another cracking yarn' -- ***** Reader review
'Leaves you breathless' -- ***** Reader review
'Yet another awesome tale from the master storyteller'-- ***** Reader review
'Draws you in and keeps you engaged the whole way'-- ***** Reader review
'Excellent book, you feel you are there in the middle of the fighting' -- ***** Reader review
*****
1802: Richard Bolitho is summoned to the Admiralty in London and given his orders for a difficult and, to him, distasteful task. Even an advanced promotion to vice-admiral does not compensate for his sudden and thankless mission. Bolitho and his wife are expecting their first child, and for once he is loath to quit the land for the demands of duty.

The Peace of Amiens, signed a few weeks earlier, is already showing signs of strain as the old enemies wrangle over the return of colonial possessions won and lost during the war. In the little sixty-four-gun AchatesBolitho sails West for Boston, and thence to the Caribbean where he must hand over the island of San Felipe to the French.

Bolitho discovers that to be a man of diplomacy is not enough, and as threat and counter-threat weave a web of intrigue around his lonely command, he balances success against the danger to the men who must follow him even to the cannon's mouth.

Reviews

  • One of our foremost writers of naval fiction
    Sunday Times

About the author

Alexander Kent

Alexander Kent's great interest in the ships and men of the eighteenth century navy was aroused when he was still at school. Although he attended fleet reviews and explored modern warships and dockyards with his father, he found that the great days of square riggers and battles at close quarters captured his imagination. H.M.S. Victory, Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar, was always high on his list of regular visits.

He served in the Royal Navy as a young man, and saw action in the Battle of the Atlantic and other major theatres of war, but his first love of the great days of sail remained unshaken.

Now firmly established as a leading writer of authentic sea stories, he was the author of twenty-eight acclaimed books featuring Richard Bolitho. Under his own name, Douglas Reeman, and in the course of a career spanning forty-five years, he wrote over thirty novels and two non-fiction books. He died in January 2017.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more