123 ratings | 12 reviews | avg rating:4.07

Chris’s Year In Books

Chris’s 2024 Year in Books

Take a look at Chris’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.

Go to Chris’s 2024 Year in Books

Chris Durbin’s Followers (70)

Chris’s Bookshelves

to-read (2)
currently-reading (5)
read (123)

Chris’s Friends (3)

Don Jacobson

2,447 books | 176 friends

AJ Fenske

1,958 books | 122 friends

Tom Chilcott

35 books | 3 friends

Chris Durbin

Goodreads Author

Born

in The United Kingdom

Website

https://chris-durbin.com

Genre

Historical Fiction, History

Influences

C.S. Forester ...more

Member Since

August 2017

edit data

Chris Durbin grew up in the seaside town of Porthcawl in South Wales. His first experience of sailing was as a sea cadet in the treacherous tideway of the Bristol Channel, and at the age of sixteen, he spent a week in a topsail schooner in the Southwest Approaches. He was a crew member on the Porthcawl lifeboat before joining the navy.

Chris spent twenty-four years as a warfare officer in the Royal Navy, serving in all classes of ship from aircraft carriers through destroyers and frigates to the smallest minesweepers. He took part in operational campaigns in the Falkland Islands, the Middle East and the Adriatic. As a personnel exchange officer, he spent two years teaching tactics at a US Navy training centre in San Diego.

On his retirement f Chris Durbin grew up in the seaside town of Porthcawl in South Wales. His first experience of sailing was as a sea cadet in the treacherous tideway of the Bristol Channel, and at the age of sixteen, he spent a week in a topsail schooner in the Southwest Approaches. He was a crew member on the Porthcawl lifeboat before joining the navy.

Chris spent twenty-four years as a warfare officer in the Royal Navy, serving in all classes of ship from aircraft carriers through destroyers and frigates to the smallest minesweepers. He took part in operational campaigns in the Falkland Islands, the Middle East and the Adriatic. As a personnel exchange officer, he spent two years teaching tactics at a US Navy training centre in San Diego.

On his retirement from the Royal Navy, Chris joined a large American company and spent eighteen years in the aerospace, defence and security industry, including two years on the design team for the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers.

Chris is a graduate of the Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, the British Army Command and Staff College, the United States Navy War College (where he gained a postgraduate diploma in national security decision-making) and Cambridge University (where he was awarded an MPhil in International Relations).

With a lifelong interest in naval history and a long-standing ambition to write historical fiction, Chris has embarked upon creating the Carlisle & Holbrooke series, in which a colonial Virginian commands a British navy frigate during the middle years of the eighteenth century.

The series will follow its principal characters through the Seven Years War and into the period of turbulent relations between Britain and her American Colonies in the 1760s. They’ll negotiate some thought-provoking loyalty issues when British policy and colonial restlessness lead inexorably to the American Revolution.

Chris now lives on the south coast of England, surrounded by hundreds of years of naval history. His three children are all busy growing their own families and careers while Chris and his wife (US Navy, retired) of thirty-seven years enjoy sailing their classic dayboat. ...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Chris Durbin questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Chris Durbin’s books

Average rating: 4.47 · 14,523 ratings · 381 reviews · 15 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Colonial Post-Captain (Carlisle & Holbrooke Naval Adventures #1) 4.35 avg rating — 1,809 ratings — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Leeward Islands Squadron (Carlisle & Holbrooke Naval Adventures #2) 4.48 avg rating — 1,385 ratings — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Jamaica Station (Carlisle & Holbrooke Naval Adventures #3) 4.51 avg rating — 1,234 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Holbrooke's Tide (Carlisle & Holbrooke Naval Adventures #4) 4.49 avg rating — 1,170 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Cursed Fortress (Carlisle & Holbrooke Naval Adventures #5) 4.51 avg rating — 1,062 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ligurian Mission (Carlisle & Holbrooke Naval Adventures #9) 4.52 avg rating — 1,029 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rocks and Shoals (The Carlisle & Holbrooke Naval Adventures #7) 4.53 avg rating — 981 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Niagara Squadron (Carlisle & Holbrooke Naval Adventure #8) 4.49 avg rating — 953 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Perilous Shore (Carlisle & Holbrooke Naval Adventures #6) 4.47 avg rating — 913 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cousins At Arms (Carlisle & Holbrooke Naval Adventures #13) 4.40 avg rating — 807 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Chris Durbin…

2 posts
Chris Durbin's Blog

The Eighth book in the Carlisle & Holbrooke Naval Adventures

I'm pleased to let you know that Niagara Squadron is now available on Amazon. This is the eighth book in the Carlisle and Holbrooke Naval Adventures. The year is 1759 and Holbrooke is without a ship. He is sent to North America to join the army that is setting off across the wilderness to capture Fort Niagara from the French. Although Holbrooke's orders are merely to manage the six hundred boats t Read more of this blog post »

3 likes · Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on November 09, 2020 08:17

View all 2 posts »

Series by Chris Durbin

Carlisle & Holbrooke Naval Adventures (16 books)
by

Chris Durbin (Goodreads Author)

4.47 avg rating — 14,827 ratings

Chris is Currently Reading

Chris Durbin is currently reading

The Shetland Night Killings: The Shetland Sailing Mysteries

by Marsali Taylor (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Sep 06, 2025 02:43PM

Chris Durbin is currently reading

Buried in a Shetland Tomb: The Shetland Sailing Mysteries

by Marsali Taylor (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Sep 03, 2025 12:37PM

Chris Durbin is currently reading

In The Shade Of A Willow: A Novel of the Great War

by Chris Todhunter

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Apr 25, 2020 12:47PM

rss
Chris’s Recent Updates

Chris Durbin is currently reading The Shetland Night Killings: The Shetland Sailing Mysteries by Marsali Taylor (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 06, 2025 02:43PM · like
Chris Durbin is currently reading Buried in a Shetland Tomb: The Shetland Sailing Mysteries by Marsali Taylor (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 03, 2025 12:37PM · like
Chris Durbin rated a book it was amazing Death on a Shetland Longship: The Shetland Sailing Mysteries by Marsali Taylor (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 31, 2025 12:37PM · like
Chris Durbin rated a book it was amazing Under A Big Blue Star: Exotic Voyages of a Deck Cadet by Carroll	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 29, 2024 02:31PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Under A Big Blue Star by Carroll. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Under A Big Blue Star by Carroll <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Chris Durbin rated a book it was amazing The Captain: Colombian Waters by Cam Seamus (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 07, 2024 05:11PM · like
Chris Durbin rated a book it was amazing The young Hornblower : comprising Mr. midshipman Hornblower, Lieutenant Hornblower, Hornblower and the Hotspur by C.S. Forester	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 20, 2024 02:19PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The young Hornblower by C.S. Forester. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The young Hornblower by C.S. Forester <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">