This comprehensive lexicon provides definitions of nautical terms, historical entries describing the people and political events that shaped the period, and detailed explanations of the scientific, medical, and biblical references that appear in the novels.

    An uneasy peace is about to be shattered as France's greatest living general prepares an invasion force in Toulon; but where is it bound?Captain Carlisle hails from Virginia, a loyal colony of the British Crown. As the clouds of war gather, Carlisle's small frigate - Fury - is ordered to Toulon on a reconnaissance mission. If battling the winter weather in the Gulf of Lions is not a sufficient challenge, Carlisle must also juggle the delicate diplomatic issues in this period of pre-war tension while contending with an increasingly belligerent French frigate.But Carlisle has additional problems unique to his colonial origins: he has no professional or political sponsors and an uninspiring group of followers, both of which are essential to a mid-eighteenth century naval career. How can a penniless second son from Virginia overcome these crippling deficiencies?George Holbrooke, Carlisle's reluctant master's mate, cannot disguise his lack of enthusiasm for the tedium of the peacetime navy. His attitude changes as he experiences combat and personal danger, but can he persuade his captain that he has turned the corner? And can he achieve that vital promotion to commissioned status?And then there is the beautiful Chiara Angelini, pursued across the Mediterranean by a Tunisian corsair who appears determined to abduct her, yet reluctant to shed blood. Can Carlisle solve this mystery and protect Chiara?Fury shadows the French fleet as it sails from Toulon and reveals its true destination. Carlisle and Holbrooke are witnesses to the inconclusive sea-battle which leads to the loss of Minorca and engage in a thrilling and bloody final encounter with the French frigate.The Colonial Post-Captain is the first in a planned series of novels that will follow Carlisle and Holbrooke through the Seven Years War and into the period of turbulent relations between Britain and her American colonies in the 1760s. Edward Carlisle is a near-contemporary and colonial neighbour of the founding fathers of American independence. He will negotiate some interesting loyalty issues when British policy and colonial restlessness lead inexorably to the American Revolution.

    First published to great acclaim in 1951, The Cruel Sea remains a classic novel of endurance and daring.

    An alternative title, All is True, is recorded in contemporary documents, the title Henry VIII not appearing until the play's publication in the First Folio of 1623. Stylistic evidence indicates that individual scenes were written by either Shakespeare or his collaborator and successor, John Fletcher. It is also somewhat characteristic of the late romances in its structure. It is noted for having more stage directions than any of Shakespeare's other plays.[1]During a performance of Henry VIII at the Globe Theatre in 1613, a cannon shot employed for special effects ignited the theatre's thatched roof (and the beams), burning the original building to the ground.

    1135. As church bells tolled for the death of England's King Henry I, his barons faced the unwelcome prospect of being ruled by a woman: Henry's beautiful daughter Maude, Countess of Anjou. But before Maude could claim her throne, her cousin Stephen seized it. In their long and bitter struggle, all of England bled and burned.Sharon Kay Penman's magnificent fifth novel summons to life a spectacular medieval tragedy whose unfolding breaks the heart even as it prepares the way for splendors to come—the glorious age of Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Plantagenets that would soon illumine the world.

    Over the coming weeks they must brave the stormy waters of the Atlantic in their mission to seek out and destroy British supply ships. But the tide is beginning to turn against the Germans in the war for the North Atlantic. Their targets now travel in convoys, fiercely guarded by Royal Navy destroyers, and when contact is finally made the hunters rapidly become the hunted. As the U-boat is forced to hide beneath the surface of the sea a cat-and-mouse game begins, where the increasing claustrophobia of the submarine becomes an enemy just as frightening as the depth charges that explode around it. Of the 40,000 men who served on German submarines, 30,000 never returned. Written by a survivor of the U-boat fleet, Das Boot is a psychological drama merciless in its intensity, and a classic novel of World War II.

    Charles II has been restored to the throne following years of civil war and Cromwell's short-lived republic. Oxford is the intellectual seat of the country, a place of great scientific, religious, and political ferment. A fellow of New College is found dead in suspicious circumstances. A young woman is accused of his murder. We hear the story of the death from four witnesses: an Italian physician intent on claiming credit for the invention of blood transfusion; the son of an alleged Royalist traitor; a master cryptographer who has worked for both Cromwell and the king; and a renowned Oxford antiquarian. Each tells his own version of what happened. Only one reveals the extraordinary truth.With rights sold for record-breaking sums around the world, An Instance of the Fingerpost is destined to become a major international publishing event. Deserving of comparison to the works of John Fowles and Umberto Eco, Iain Pears's novel is an ingenious tour de force: an utterly compelling historical mystery with a plot that twists and turns and keeps the reader guessing until the very last page.

    Introducing Richard Cutler, a Massachusetts teenager with strong family ties to England, the novel tells his story as he ships out with John Paul Jones to avenge the death of his beloved brother Will, impressed by the Royal Navy and flogged to death for striking an officer. On the high seas, in England and in France, on the sugar islands of the Caribbean, and on the battlefield of Yorktown, Cutler proves his mettle and wins the love?and allegiance to the infant republic?of a beautiful English aristocrat from the arms of Horatio Nelson himself. ""A Matter of Honor"" is deeply researched and eloquently told. Sailors and historians will appreciate that author's attention to maritime detail, vivid sailing scenes, and dramatic battles.""

    A land of petty kingdoms and ambitious men...When King Gorm betrays Jarl Harald and puts his family to the sword, he makes a terrible mistake. He fails to kill Harald's youngest son, Sigurd. Hunted by powerful men and hiding in a sacred fen, Sigurd believes the gods have turned their backs on his family. His kin are dead or captured. His village is attacked and its people taken as slaves. Honour is lost. Yet all men know that Ódin, whose name means frenzy, is drawn to chaos and bloodshed as a raven is to the slaughtered dead - and Sigurd means to spill blood.Alone but for a small band of loyal men including his red-bearded friend Svein, his father's right-hand man Olaf, and Asgot the godi, Sigurd hungers to avenge the murder of his family. In an attempt to catch Ódin's eye, the young man sacrifices himself - as the god once did - and it is during this ritual ordeal that Sigurd is shown a vision. The Wolf. The Bear. The Serpent. The Eagle. Sigurd will need all these and more if he is to become a man whom others will follow...and if he is to make kings pay in blood for their treachery.But the gods have spoken and Sigurd's quest begins. Using cunning and war-craft he must gather the fiercest warriors of the north - warriors such as Bram who men call Bear, Black Floki who is death with a blade, and the shield Maiden Valgerd, who brave men fear - and convince them to follow him. For whether or not Ódin is with him, Sigurd will have his vengeance and neither men nor the gods can stand in his way...Be assured that when the blood is flowing, the gods are watching...

    Here, in the dizzying heat of August 1939, five cousins have gathered at their aunt's house for their annual ritual of a holiday. For most of them it is the last summer of their youth, with the heady exhilarations and freedoms of lost innocence, as well as the fears of the coming war.The Camomile Lawn moves from Cornwall to London and back again, over the years, telling the stories of the cousins, their family and their friends, united by shared losses and lovers, by family ties and the absurd conditions imposed by war as their paths cross and recross over the years. Mary Wesley presents an extraordinarily vivid and lively picture of wartime London: the rationing, imaginatively circumvented; the fallen houses; the parties, the new-found comforts of sex, the desperate humour of survival - all of it evoked with warmth, clarity and stunning wit. And through it all, the cousins and their friends try to hold on to the part of themselves that laughed and played dangerous games on that camomile lawn.

    His adventures take him through the London Frost Fair, the strange court of King Charles I, the wars of the Spanish succession, Versailles, the golden age of Amsterdam and to nineteenth-century Venice. As he journeys through Europe, he befriends both animals and humans, falls in love (only once), marvels at the human ability to make music, despairs at their capacity for war and gains insight into both the strength and frailties of the human spirit.With the rich historical vision of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and the captivating canine perspective of A Dog’s Purpose, Tomorrow draws us into a unique century-spanning tale of the unbreakable connection between dog and human.

    But the real Eleanor remains elusive.This stunning novel introduces an Eleanor that all other writers have missed. Based on the most up-to-date research, it is the first novel to show Eleanor beginning her married life at 13. Overflowing with scandal, passion, triumph and tragedy, Eleanor's legendary story begins when her beloved father dies in the summer of 1137, and she is made to marry the young prince Louis of France. A week after the marriage she becomes a queen and her life will change beyond recognition . . .

    When enemy troops invade the house and a maniacal Lieutenant terrorizes the family, Silence St. Barbe begins a hopeless love affair with the Royalist captain who defends her honor and protects her children.

     To make up the numbers, he must resort to press gangs. It is as a result of missions ashore led by Swift’s young nephew William Bentley that farmer’s boy Thomas Fox and smuggler Jesse Broad find themselves on board a ship run by Swift with utmost cruelty, policed by rattan cane and cat. As the men grow weak from disease and relentless punishments on the long voyage, the talk below deck, inevitably, turns to mutiny. Swift, Bentley, Fox and Broad become slowly locked into a complex web of fear, love, hatred, and horrifying tragedy. Will Swift and Bentley be able to control their men or will rebellion break out upon the Welfare? ‘A Fine Boy For Killing’ is a gripping naval adventure that will appeal to fans of Patrick O’Brian and C. S. Forester. It is the first in the series of Sea Officer Bentley thrillers. Jan Needle has had more than forty books published, including the best-selling ‘Napoleon: The Escape’, 'Death Order', and the Charlie Raven Adventures. Praise for A Fine Boy For Killing: ‘A painfully authentic portrayal of naval life in the 18th century. A powerful story of lost humanity…its violent emotions are shattering.’ The Guardian ‘Jan Needle’s tale of 18th-century naval life is following in a great British tradition, but alters it savagely so that it is not the salt spray that remains in the memory but the steady trickling of blood. Try as we might, we cannot avert our gaze from the horror.’ The Times Praise for Jan Needle: 'Brilliant. I found myself being drawn back into that twilight world again, despite myself. I was grossly entertained and thrilled... [Jan Needle] is a rare talent.' Jimmy Boyle 'A thundering great novel. What's really amazing is how much he seems to know about so many different things...what more could you want from a thriller? A cracking good read.' Tony Parker, New Statesman & Society 'So topical...[Needle] develops a complex, ingenious plot at breakneck speed and has a sharp underdog's eye.' John McVicar, Time Out Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.

    From the moment Henry Percy, the future Earl of Northumberland, first glimpses the beautiful Anne Boleyn he is captivated and quickly proposes marriage. Anne has been taught to use her charms to her advantage and to secure her family's position of power at court. She sees that Henry Percy's affection is sincere and agrees to marry him. But a match of the heart has no place in a world where marriage is a political manoeuvre. Torn apart, the lovers are exiled to separate ends of the kingdom. For Henry a lifetime of duty awaits, while he remains true to the only woman he will ever love. But he is not the only man to be bewitched by Anne. And when King Henry VIII determines to make her his queen, the course of history is changed for ever...