Upon Dark Waters

by Robert Radcliffe

31st December 1942. In the middle of the North Atlantic, the deadly 'gap' where aircraft cannot protect them, a destroyer and 4 corvettes are shepherding a convoy of ships from America to Britain. But as midnight passes, the New Year is marked by a white flash on the horizon - a German torpedo. What follows is a night scarred forever in the memory of its survivors. But for Michael Villiers, officer on the HMS Daisy, it is just another chapter in an extraordinary life. The son of a beautiful socialite and a British diplomat, Michael is brought up in Sombreado, Uruguay alongside his guardian's daughter Maria, and the pair are inseparable. Even when he is sent to school in England, the family ranch remains Michael's home and when his schooling is complete, there is never any doubt that he will return to Sombreado, to Maria. But when Michael returns to Montevideo in 1939, his steamer crosses paths with a German warship - an ominous sign of the conflict to come. And though Uruguay is neutral in the coming conflict, Michael is to be allowed no such the British Legation want him to make the most of his family connections. In a war, the English ambassador explains, everyone has to take sides . . .

Genres: Fiction, Military Fiction, World War II, Historical Fiction, War

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

This is a pseudonym for Robert Mawson.

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

My last couple of fiction choices, before this book, turned out to be quite dense novels, so I was looking for an uncomplicated one, and found it with this historical novel set mainly during WW2, and also in the years leading up to that conflict.

The novel has a dual perspective, from the points of view of two officers serving aboard a corvette on Atlantic convoy duty. Stephen Tomlin is a young man from a naval family, who looks up to another officer, Michael Villiers. The unusual angle here is that Villiers was born in Montevideo to an English father and a Uruguayan mother, and was brought up on a ranch near Uruguay’s northern border with Brazil, amidst the culture of the gaucho. Michael gets an extensive backstory, with quite a strong theme of how identity is experienced by someone of mixed heritage. By comparison Tomlin’s background is thinly drawn, though even in his case the theme of identity is explored in the context of his family having a naval background.

There were a few aspects I wasn’t bowled over by. The novel has the standard romantic subplot, which didn’t work that well for me (they rarely do). One or two of the minor characters seemed a bit stereotyped, particularly an embittered Irishman employed by Michael’s Uruguayan family to teach him English. Lastly, Michael challenges his naval superiors in ways that stretched my credulity slightly within the context of WW2. However, taken as a whole the novel is pretty enjoyable. I liked the description of the Uruguayan pampas. Uruguay as a country tends to be overshadowed by its two giant neighbours.

I would say though that it was the Atlantic convoys section that really made this book. The action scenes of convoys being attacked by U-Boats are tense and exciting, and the book becomes a veritable page turner during these episodes. The horrors of a ship being torpedoed are conveyed as well as any wartime-set book I’ve read. I thought the ending was pretty good as well, as it resolved several previously puzzling aspects to the story.

All in all, pretty good.

[Sportyrod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Action packed naval story encompassing a childhood through to WW2 and beyond.

The character development is outstanding. It is immediate and revealing. The story is told from two perspectives: one by a junior British naval officer (excuse lack of lingo) who recounts the general events on the ship and what happened on a life boat after a U boat attack. The main focus is of the second in command whom the narrator admires. The second perspective is from the second in command himself, Michael Villiers. The result is you get to learn about his life in context of how others view him.

The story covers three settings, his homeland in country Uruguay, England and the Atlantic Ocean. The main character is taken to England during his childhood and spends a lot of time longing for his old life back home. There is a love interest involved but doesn’t take up too much of the story.

The setting is quite disjointed. It starts with the sunken ship and intertwines the happenings of his life without any demarcation. Whilst a tad confusing it doesn’t take long to catch up.

The family dynamics are incredible. They tie the story together bringing in some political factors relating to the war.

I did not expect this story to have so many twists that caught me out. And there were some good ones....

I cared about the characters a lot: something unusual for me. The story had good tension and release. By mixing the time and setting, it made the pace seem faster and more suspenseful.

I can see how this book would be hard to find a target market. The combination of naval war and relationships is a tough one. I really enjoyed this book. A lot more than I thought I would actually.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

No cross marks the place where now we lie
What happened is known but to us
You asked, and we gave our lives to protect
Our land from the enemy curse
No Flanders Field where poppies blow;
No Gleaming Crosses, row on row;
No Unnamed Tomb for all to see
And pause -- and wonder who we might be
The Sailors’ Valhalla is where we lie
On the ocean bed, watching ships pass by
Sailing in safety now thru’ the waves
Often right over our sea-locked graves
We ask you just to remember us.

Having read "Under an English Heaven" by the same author I was keen to read this novel especially as I'm a fan of history based stories. This book is set onboard a tiny corvette (HMS Daisy) during the WWII Battle of the Atlantic. A battle when the mortality rates on both the Allied and German sides reached 70%.
Rather than the Atlantic convoys much of the story is set in pre-war Uruguay where Michael Villiers (Daisy's second officer) is born & grows up, before moving to England & a British boarding school.

This book starts with a few survivors of HMS Daisy in a life boat in the Atlantic making it rather difficult to really bond their ship-mates as characters . The story is told in flashback, as such you know that the narrator must survive even if it seems improbable therefore some of the suspense is taken out of the story. This is very different with "Under an English Heaven" where you fly with the crew of Misbehavin' Martha as they strive to make it through their tour of duty.

That all sounds rather negative and that would be a little unfair as I still found this an enjoyable read. In particular when the author describes torpedoes streaking towards lumbering merchant ships you get an idea of the sheer brutality of submarine warfare especially when the surviving ships are forced to leave their brethren in the water rather than risk losing another ship to the U-boats. Michael's meeting with the captain of the Graf Spee in Montevideo after the Battle of the Plate is pretty poignant as it speaks the Naval family.

In this novel there are similarities to Sebastian Faulks' "Birdsong". In "Birdsong" the main character develops as a man in pre-war France, here the main character does so in Uruguay yet both end up fighting for the Allies. Also as with "Birdsong" the actual fighting of the war is largely secondary.Instead how war affects the participants is central to the story.

If you enjoy reading war fiction then this is worth giving a go. However I do feel that the author missed the chance of creating a real classic which is a real shame.

[Milo Dring · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much better than I thought it was going to be.

The front cover doesn’t scream fun, so I was naturally unsure. However, I did there was a strong flow to the story which kept me interested.

I do need to stop reading books written by men about men, it’s all getting a bit samey.

[Roy Szweda · Rating 3 out of 5]

My second from this author in a month! One can see a pattern in style and approach here... the parallel themes mixing action and passion to a conclusive climax.
Dambuster was OK but this one deals with another aspect of WW2, those in peril on the sea. While the former dealt with a very well known action, the breaching of the dams, this one tells a tale of a ship's crew as they endure all manner of hazard for weeks on end in the Atlantic.
I for one was thoroughly engaged with the bits when the "hero" was on his ship. Less interesting were the interspersed parts about Uruguay and I felt myself hurrying up to get to the next part of his fate.
So if you are into rattling good wartime yarns then grab a copy of this to while away an hour or three. It informed as well as entertained and is suitable for all ages.

[Peter Lawrence]

I really enjoyed this book.

[Huw Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

You see the title, you look at the illustration on the cover, and you read the blurb, and you think you're about to read a bit of a sea battle novel based on the Atlantic convoys of WW2.

Yes, this certainly features - but more as a canvas, a device on which the author paints an extremely engaging narrative which goes way beyond the terrors of the battle for the Atlantic in the late 1930's and early 1940's.

We actually have two main narrators to the piece - sailors Tomlin and Villiers, the former introducing us to the life story of the latter.

And what a life story that was - born and bought up in Uruguay to an English civil servant father and a rather interesting and exotic Uruguayan mother. All sorts of universal themes are touched upon whilst we follow Michael/ Miguel Villiers' life story. We have a bit of spying, some English public school anecdotes and a love story thrown in for good measure, all interspersed with some powerful insights onto the human condition.

All in all, a very enjoyable read.

[Andrée · Rating 3 out of 5]

At times it felt like two separate stories but the conflict of mixed race/allegiance was interesting.
Ultimately the Atlantic trumped the Pampas for me.
A good read but not a 5 star like Monsarrat's 'The Cold Seas'

[Mrs Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this book to read when on holiday. It didn't look like my kind of thing, but oh I was wrong. Take a chance, this is good.

[Richard Warlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read.

[Gilda Felt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is the story of two men, Stephen Tomlin, a midshipman aboard the corvette, the HMS Daisy, and, the Number Two officer, Michael Villiers, from Uruguay.

Given its title, one would think that the larger part of the story would be set at sea, but it’s the shorter part which takes place there. Set in their present, the two men are brought together by the war. Assigned to the corvette, they must fight for their lives against the “wolf pack,” the fleet of German U-boats that hound the convoy they protect.

The larger part of the book deals with Michael Villiers, and of his boyhood spent at the family ranch in Uruguay. But his life is upended by the sudden departure of his family to his father’s home in England. It is there that he grows to manhood. But though he feels that he’s Uruguayan, he’ll find that both countries have a hold on him.

It’s an excellent and lyrically written tale of love and loyalty; of finding oneself, and knowing who you are.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This interestingly structured novel of the Battle of the Atlantic is told, alternately, by a young midshipman on HMS Daisy, Steven Tomlin, mainly in a lifeboat reflecting on service aboard the corvette, and by a senior officer, Michael Villiers, whose story is at the centre of the narrative. Uruguay is Villiers’ birthplace and life there is captivatingly depicted, as is his return there early in the War and, even though there is a bit of melodrama, the sea and death and survival in the convoys is compellingly described.

[Fi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I particularly wanted to read this book because my father was on the Atlantic convoys & I thought it may give me an idea of what life may have been like for him; and yes, it did give me some glimpses, but I learned far more - and certainly more than I anticipated - about life in South America during WWII ....

[Nicola · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't bother. I shouldn't have. What a turd.

[Martyn Legg · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent story! Although fiction there is something utterly believable about the characters. So glad I came across this author!

[CHRISTINE MACLEOD · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story of the characters aboard a corvette during WW2 in the North Atlantic and of a family in Uruguay closely linked with one of the characters. Loved it.

[Cheryll · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really my kind of book. I found I got confused who was talking - Michael or Tomlin.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Upon Dark Waters is a visual and absorbing read. Essentially it is two stories braided together by the presence of the lead character. Thread one concerns the dangerous, arduous world of the sailors working the Atlantic merchant convoys in the winter of 1942 and the men of the corvette Daisy whose task it is to protect the merchant ships from submarine attack. The U-boats are hunting in packs and the short days and cruel weather have stacked the odds in their favour. Thread two, told in detailed flashback is the story of Daisy’s Sub-Lieutenant Michael Villiers. Born of a wealthy Uruguayan socialite mother, and an English Embassy worker father, Michael’s boyhood is spent on the family’s estate in Uruguay’s interior. The Pampas, the ethos of the gaucho and the rural Uruguayans have a strong effect on his developing character. When his father decides to return to England and send him to boarding school, Michael finds it hard to adjust and he never loses his passion for his mother’s country.
The two seemingly disparate story threads of the Convoys and Michael’s stormy life before joining Daisy are woven together with skill and panache – although the first jump from Atlantic convoy to life in Uruguay is something of a bolt from the blue. Once the reader realises that the novel is to be told in a series of flashbacks alternated with current narrative, the transition becomes much less of a shock.
The character developments and personal conflicts will keep the reader on the edge of the seat just as much as the gritty actions scenes. The landscapes of freezing Atlantic seas, the cattle-grazed pampas, the brittle, bright lights of Montevideo are all realised with a wonderful photographic clarity. The secondary characters, while having less space in the novel are all just as fully fleshed and real as those holding centre stage.
Although Upon Dark Waters is packaged to appeal to male readers with a resolutely grim front cover (blue) depicting convoys steaming through clouds of battle smoke, it is, I feel a novel that will appeal strongly to both sexes. Full marks

[Tim Corke · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fascinating story of Michael Villiers, who with a Uruguayan socialite mother and English diplomat father was brought up on a ranch in Uruguay to protect him against the ravages of pre-war cholera epidemics.As time passed and war loomed, links with the German community and British Intelligence made Villiers an asset to both whilst he battled with his own identify. Set against the backdrop of the Graf Spee scuttle in Montevideo, a strange encounter with the German commander of Spee prompts Villiers to join the British Navy to find his own family links which turns into another struggle when he finds out his father isn't who he thinks...

[Rob Godfrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good WW2 novel. Good plot, believable characters.

[Lamilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a travelling book. Available now. http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/1...

[Gerald marcus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Robert. A fascinating read. I was sorry to reach the end. Couldn't you write a never ending book. With Kind regards. Gerald Marcus

Perhaps you could write something new in very near future. Perhaps a follow-up to this book with more developments of