Book picks similar to
Midshipman Bolitho by Alexander Kent


historical-fiction
fiction
naval-fiction
adventure

Mr. Midshipman Easy


Frederick Marryat - 1836
    Midshipman Easy is based on the author's adventures sailing with Lord Thomas Cochrane. This classic seafaring tale is a fascinating account of naval life and warfare, of French prisons and love affairs, and of the midshipman's berth. Marryat's ready wit, unforgettable characters, and true-to-life details have earned him praise from Conrad, Hemingway, and Ford Madox Ford, who called him "the greatest of English novelists."

The Time of Terror


Seth Hunter - 2008
    Desperate for some real action, Peake gets his chance when France declares war on England and descends into the bloody madness of the Terror. Peake is entrusted with a mission to wreck the French economy by smuggling fake banknotes into Paris. His activities take him down Paris streets patrolled by violent mobs and into the sinister catacombs beneath the French capital. And they bring him close to famous characters of the day: the English feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, her American lover Gilbert Imlay who acts as George Washington’s agent in Paris, and the British/American writer and revolutionary Thomas Paine. As opposition to the Terror mounts, Peake fights to carry out his mission—and to save the life of the woman he loves.

The Captain's Nephew


Philip K. Allan - 2018
    Tall ships navigate familiar and foreign waters, and ambitious young men without rank or status seek their futures in Naval commands. First Lieutenant Alexander Clay of the frigate Agrius is self-made, clever, and ready for the new age. But the old world, dominated by patronage, retains a tight hold on advancement. Though Clay has proven himself many times over, Captain Percy Follett is determined to promote his own nephew.Before Clay finds a way to receive due credit for his exploits, he'll first need to survive them. Ill-conceived expeditions ashore, hunts for privateers in treacherous fog, and a desperate chase across the Atlantic are only some of the challenges he faces. He must endeavor to bring his ship and crew through a series of adventures stretching from the bleak coast of Flanders to the warm waters of the Caribbean. Only then might high society recognize his achievements--and allow him to ask for the hand of Lydia Browning, the woman who loves him regardless of his station.

The Lion at Sea


Max Hennessy - 1977
    Confident and strong willed, Kelly Maguire knew from a young age that he could accomplish great things. A constant and abiding love of the ocean would prove to be the making of him.When the call of war is heard in the early 1910s, Kelly knows that he must answer it. Enlisting in the Royal Navy, he hopes to win both the war and personal glory. But from the barbarous battles of Gallipoli to the nightmarish action at Antwerp, Kelly, along with his young shipmates, begins to learn the trials a sailor must face, trials that will forge him from a boy into a man. As the epic battle of Jutland approaches, everything is at stake.A gritty adventure full of danger, blood and guts, perfect for fans of David McDine, Alan Evans and Alexander Fullerton.

Fletcher's Fortune


John Drake - 2015
     But this particular gang couldn't actually read the rules. And didn't care anyway. Which was how he found himself risking life, limb and sea sickness on board His Majesty's frigate Phiandra, about to do battle with what looked like half the French fleet. Meanwhile at Coignwood Hall, the late Sir Henry lay face-down in his soup as his beautiful but evil widow, Lady Sarah, along with their two loathsome sons, ransacked his papers for the will that would disclose to their horror that the entire family fortune has been left to a previously unknown illegitimate son. Who would now have to be tracked down and disposed of as a matter of some urgency... What will become of Fletcher's Fortune? Fletcher's Fortune is the first in a rollicking series of memoirs that bring the 18th Century back to life in its tawdry glory. Praise for John Drake ‘Broad comedy, high drama, plenty of action, a pinch of sex ... the genre has room for this cheerily debunking outsider’ - Daily Mail ’Swashbuckling adventure on the high seas doesn't get much better than this. […] John Drake writes beautifully, and you'll be torn between savoring the words and quickly flipping the pages. Any favorable comparison to Stevenson or Patrick O'Brian is totally justified.’ - Nelson DeMille, #1 New York Times bestselling author John Drake trained as a biochemist to post-doctorate research level before realizing he was no good at science. His working career was in the television department of ICI until 1999 when he became a full-time writer. John's hobby is muzzle-loading shooting, and his interests are British history and British politics (as a spectator), plus newspapers, TV news, and current affairs. He is married with a son and two grandchildren.

The Cruel Sea


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

Doctor Dogbody's Leg


James Norman Hall - 1940
    In his later years, his favorite work was writing the tales spun by Dr. Dogbody, a peg-legged old salt who never lets the truth get in the way of a good story. Doctor Dogbody's tales vividly recreate the Napoleonic Wars, and delight with broad comedy, rollicking naval adventure, and characters that will live on in the reader's memory.

A Fine Boy For Killing


Jan Needle - 1983
     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.

His Majesty's Ship


Alaric Bond - 2009
     In the spring of 1795 HMS Vigilant, a 64 gun ship-of-the-line, is about to leave Spithead as senior escort to a small, seemingly innocent, convoy. The crew is a jumble of trained seamen, volunteers, and the sweepings of the press; yet, somehow, the officers have to mold them into an effective fighting unit before the French discover the convoy’s true significance. Based on historical fact, His Majesty’s Ship will take you into the world of Nelson’s Navy, and captivate you all the way to it’s gripping conclusion. “Bond has an extraordinary talent for describing the sights and sounds of an 18th Century man-of-war. When you finish this book you genuinely feel like you have been there—and no novel can receive higher praise than that.” The First Book in the Fighting Sail Series. Second Edition

Das Boot


Lothar-Günther Buchheim - 1973
    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.

Tides of War


Steven Pressfield - 2000
    A commander on both land and sea, he led his armies to victory after victory.But like the heroes in a great Greek tragedy, he was a victim of his own pride, arrogance, excess, and ambition. Accused of crimes against the state, he was banished from his beloved Athens, only to take up arms in the service of his former enemies.For nearly three decades, Greece burned with war and Alcibiades helped bring victories to both sides — and ended up trusted by neither.Narrated from death row by Alcibiades’ bodyguard and assassin, a man whose own love and loathing for his former commander mirrors the mixed emotions felt by all Athens, Tides of War tells an epic saga of an extraordinary century, a war that changed history, and a complex leader who seduced a nation.

SSN: A Strategy Guide to Submarine Warfare


Tom Clancy - 1996
    The "forgotten Clancy novel," SSN is a complete submarine warfare novel with maps, photos, and a special interview with Tom Clancy and former submarine commander Doug Littlejohns

The Guardship


James L. Nelson - 2000
    With the bounty from his years as a pirate--a life he intends to renounce and keep forever secret--he purchases a fine plantation from a striking young widow, and soon after kills the favorite son of one of Virginia's most powerful clans while defending her honor. But it is a daring feat of remarkable cunning that truly sets local tongues wagging: a stunning move that wins Marlowe command of Plymouth Prize, the colony's decrepit guardship.But even as the enigmatic Marlowe bravely leads the King's sailors in bloody pitched battle against the cutthroats who infest the waters off Virginia's shores, a threat from his illicit past looms on the horizon that could doom Marlowe and his plans. Jean-Pierre LeRois, captain of the Vengeance--a brigand notorious even among other brigands for his violence and debauchery--plots to seize the colony's wealth, forcing Marlowe to choose between losing all or facing the one man he fears. Only an explosive confrontation on the open sea can determine whether the Chesapeake will be ruled by the crown or the Brethren of the Coast.

The Guns of the South


Harry Turtledove - 1992
    Lee faces defeat. The Army of Northern Virginia is ragged and ill-equpped. Gettysburg has broken the back of the Confederacy and decimated its manpower.Then, Andries Rhoodie, a strange man with an unplaceable accent, approaches Lee with an extraordinary offer. Rhoodie demonstrates an amazing rifle: Its rate of fire is incredible, its lethal efficiency breathtaking--and Rhoodie guarantees unlimited quantitites to the Confederates.The name of the weapon is the AK-47...."It is absolutely unique--without question the most fascinating Civil War novel I have ever read." –Professor James M. McPherson – Pultizer Prize winning Battle Cry of Freedom

To the Last Man: A Novel of the First World War


Jeff Shaara - 2004
    Now the acclaimed author turns to World War I, bringing to life the sweeping, emotional story of the war that devastated a generation and established America as a world power.Spring 1916: the horror of a stalemate on Europe’s western front. France and Great Britain are on one side of the barbed wire, a fierce German army is on the other. Shaara opens the window onto the otherworldly tableau of trench warfare as seen through the eyes of a typical British soldier who experiences the bizarre and the horrible–a “Tommy” whose innocent youth is cast into the hell of a terrifying war.In the skies, meanwhile, technology has provided a devastating new tool, the aeroplane, and with it a different kind of hero emerges–the flying ace. Soaring high above the chaos on the ground, these solitary knights duel in the splendor and terror of the skies, their courage and steel tested with every flight.As the conflict stretches into its third year, a neutral America is goaded into war, its reluctant president, Woodrow Wilson, finally accepting the repeated challenges to his stance of nonalignment. Yet the Americans are woefully unprepared and ill equipped to enter a war that has become worldwide in scope. The responsibility is placed on the shoulders of General John “Blackjack” Pershing, and by mid-1917 the first wave of the American Expeditionary Force arrives in Europe. Encouraged by the bold spirit and strength of the untested Americans, the world waits to see if the tide of war can finally be turned.From Blackjack Pershing to the Marine in the trenches, from the Red Baron to the American pilots of the Lafayette Escadrille, To the Last Man is written with the moving vividness and accuracy that characterizes all of Shaara’s work. This spellbinding new novel carries readers–the way only Shaara can–to the heart of one of the greatest conflicts in human history, and puts them face-to-face with the characters who made a lasting impact on the world.