Added by: Kahena | Karma: 11524.33 | Fiction literature | 15 November 2010
2
The Man From St. Petersburg
This story is set London in early 1914 as Germany was mobilizing and war was inevitable to those that history would prove astute. France was in peril even if England assisted, and the British Empire itself would be at risk if the Germans prevailed. So, The First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. Winston Churchill of the Liberal government, armed with a note from King George, convinces the (conservative) Earl of Walden to negotiate a secret treaty with his wife's nephew, Alex Orlov, also nephew to the Czar, for Russia to enter into the fray.
It is March 1811, and Admiral Richard Bolitho is once again summoned to London from Cornwall. In defence of an Empire, the Admiralty must quell the unrest in America or face war with those who were once friends.
July 1801, Plymouth. Richard Bolitho's small squadron is still repairing the scars of battle earned at Copenhagen. Now the Admiralty needs Bolitho again. After eight years of war with France, Britain must show her strength and determination and dramatically weaken the French cause. The Admiralty wants an attack. Rear-Admiral Richard Boltho must follow his flag's tradition of victory - even though for the first time in his life he is torn between the demands of public duty and personal need.
A troubled peace with France means that in the harbours and estuaries around England, the royal fleet has been left to rot. Even a frigate captain as famous as Richard Bolitho is forced to swallow his pride and visit the Admiralty daily to plead for a ship. As the clouds of war begin to rise once more over the Channel, he has no choice but to accept an appointment to the Nore.
