A Changing War: At Home and at Sea, 1805 - II

by John G. Cragg

The war is still on. Captain Sir Richard Giles, Viscount Ashton, has to put a spike in Napoleon's latest attempt to divert British attention from the Emperor’s main plans. To do so, he first has to discover what the French are plotting. This task, in turn, requires him to venture far into French waters, pretending to be part of the crew of an English smuggling ship. Dealing with what he finds is not easy. It requires eluding or defeating a French battleship, seizing a French frigate., and capturing a battalion of French soldiers. London Society had earlier been trying to draw in Giles and his wife, Daphne, as they attend splendid functions both at the King’s palace and at the Prince of Wales’s mansion. Giles is awarded an honor, and Daphne is presented to the Queen. They have a toe in the pond of High Society, but they are not yet prepared to dive into it. There are more important things for them to do. Giles’s tasks do not end with destroying the French initiative. He and his frigate, Glaucus, must voyage to the West African coast. Pirates have been seizing vessels of the East India Company and holding the ships, crews, and passengers for ransom. To handle this situation, not only must Giles defeat the pirates, but he also has to attack their stronghold and facilitate a coup d’etat. Even then, his problems are not finished. A French frigate off the coast of Portugal tries to interfere with his voyage home and seize the ships he has liberated from the pirates. Meanwhile, Daphne’s intention of spending all her time managing their estate while her husband is at sea runs into difficulties. Her uncle, who owns a factory in Birmingham, is taken ill. Only Daphne seems to be able to solve the dilemmas that arise when a crooked lawyer tries to steal her uncle’s company. That task alone would make Daphne overburdened. However, there is still another urgent call on her energies. Her father-in-law, who is at death’s door, tries to divert the monies that should go to his wife to his mistress. The weak legal status of married women makes it hard to frustrate these plans. Nevertheless, Daphne finds ways to protect her mother-in-law and the inheritances of her own children. Giles returns to find that Daphne has everything under control. His father’s death will not have the devastating effect with which he had intended to burden his wife and his heir.

365 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 9, 2019

Reviews

[Louie Halfacre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Duty

I enjoyed the further adventures of Daphne and Giles. I have read every book featuring both and look forward to many more. I believe since Giles is now an Earl it would be highly unusual for him to be the Captain of a frigate. With all his responsibilities pertaining to his numerous estates and people relying on him as head of the family his duty lies there and not on a frigate. I would recommend this book and all the other books in this series to all readers. It combines Regency Naval and Romance in the same book. Highly enjoyable for all.

[David Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Sensational and Supremelyi

This is a beautifully written story of two extremely smart and rich and utterly heroic people: A Royal Naval Captain and his equally gifted and courageous wife. The author paints a fascinating picture of 19th century life in England and at sea for this couple and their spectacular rise high through the ranks of British nobility during the Napoleonic wars. I was captivated by this entire five volume story and hope the saga continues for at least five more.

[Jim Purcell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series remains nicely balanced between Daphne and Giles. The Daphne side addresses the stilted society of the times where men ruled and aristocratic men ruled absolutely. Her unique education and upbringing make her very atypical as she tries to right wrongs as well as managing their estates and her uncle's business.
Giles also manages to do the right thing if not necessarily in a manner expected. Slaying pirates and Frenchmen is an appropriate activity; upsetting the East India Company is frowned upon.

[Ron Griffin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The earlier books in this series were much better than this one. I really enjoyed those. While the fictional homefront and naval events of this one are inventive and well conceived, their delivery wore on me. Too much redundancy and cliche and fabulousness by the main 2 characters. Everything Daphne and Giles touch turns to gold. Perhaps the storyline has tired itself out.

[NS Legg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable yarn

A very good read. Clips along at a pace and I enjoyed the juxtaposition of the sea chapters with the domestic. John Cragg keeps the technical details to those that serve the story and that helps the pace of the narrative. Recommended to those with an interest on this period and this genre.

[Ken Braney · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story continues

As always a good read,disappointed that it seemed to finish in mid way rather than a natural break. However it means I need to read the next book in the series as soon as possible

[Kaygee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Balanced betweenN doing and describing

Things are happening in this writer’s stories. This book not just a long series is descriptions of what places looked like and how people felt.

[allan michael holmes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a good read

Not a bad series of Napoleonic naval novels - aside from a reference to the game of Rugby (30 + years too early) - Usual crop of typos (could this be due to voice transcription onto Kindle?) - Also typeface kept on altering size - very distracting!

[Peter Harding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good read enjoyed please keep writing these books thank you for the enjoyment of a good book (kindle ) ebook to foreigners

[Chaplain Stanley Chapin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A interesting storyline

As always a very enjoyable sailing ship adventure by this author. He blends in family, land activity along with the sailing ship adventure.

[G. Patrick Cruikshank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story line, good character development, good action descriptions.

[Dave Hammett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Politics, politics, politics

Great end to this series. Earl Giles wins a major victory and Daphne solves more problems while still finding time to have another child!

[G.A.NEWMAN · Rating 5 out of 5]

a fine series

Both at home and at sea things progress at a most satisfactory way let’s see what happens next. I am sure nothing will daunt this formidable pair