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"A rip-roaring tale, based on real characters and events, and introducing a fabulous dual heritage hero for our times." Saul David, author of Hart of Empire
West Indies, 1796.
Alexander Charteris - the mixed-race son of an aristocratic planter and a slave mother - is raised as a gentleman amidst the country houses and London drawing rooms of Georgian England. Tricked out of his inheritance by his cousin Pemberton - Chart is kidnapped and transported to the island of Grenada where he endures the hell of slavery on a sugar plantation.
When Pemberton arrives at the plantation, accompanied by Chart’s former lover, Lady Arabella, he orders Chart’s torture and execution.
A slave revolt ensues, before the order can be carried out. Chart initially joins the revolutionaries but is sentenced to death for refusing to take part in a massacre of British colonists. Aided by the beautiful daughter of the rebel general, Julian Fédon, Chart escapes.
He is recruited into a new British unit called the Loyal Black Rangers and promised freedom if he fights against the French.
Chart confronts conflicting loyalties as he leads his men in vicious bush-fighting. He rises through the ranks and plays a pivotal role in the bloody battle that crushes the rebellion.
But the soldier must confront one more enemy, that of his treacherous cousin, before he can find peace.
Timothy Ashby is the author of the Seth Armitage historical mystery series and Time Fall . He is also the author of the non-fiction titles Elizabethan Secret The Untold Story of William Ashby (1536-1593) and The Bear in the Back Moscow´s Caribbean Strategy . He lives in Mallorca.
Praise for Timothy
“A well-researched adventure that skilfully mixes warts-and-all history with cinematic action.” Kirkus Reviews
“… grippingly panoramic in scope, stretching from vignettes involving Abraham Lincoln to the hotspots of the Jazz Era … and harrowing evocations of the Civil War’s bloodshed. Devil´s Den is a tightly controlled and extremely satisfying novel …. Highly recommended.” Historical Novels Society Review
West Indies, 1796.
Alexander Charteris - the mixed-race son of an aristocratic planter and a slave mother - is raised as a gentleman amidst the country houses and London drawing rooms of Georgian England. Tricked out of his inheritance by his cousin Pemberton - Chart is kidnapped and transported to the island of Grenada where he endures the hell of slavery on a sugar plantation.
When Pemberton arrives at the plantation, accompanied by Chart’s former lover, Lady Arabella, he orders Chart’s torture and execution.
A slave revolt ensues, before the order can be carried out. Chart initially joins the revolutionaries but is sentenced to death for refusing to take part in a massacre of British colonists. Aided by the beautiful daughter of the rebel general, Julian Fédon, Chart escapes.
He is recruited into a new British unit called the Loyal Black Rangers and promised freedom if he fights against the French.
Chart confronts conflicting loyalties as he leads his men in vicious bush-fighting. He rises through the ranks and plays a pivotal role in the bloody battle that crushes the rebellion.
But the soldier must confront one more enemy, that of his treacherous cousin, before he can find peace.
Timothy Ashby is the author of the Seth Armitage historical mystery series and Time Fall . He is also the author of the non-fiction titles Elizabethan Secret The Untold Story of William Ashby (1536-1593) and The Bear in the Back Moscow´s Caribbean Strategy . He lives in Mallorca.
Praise for Timothy
“A well-researched adventure that skilfully mixes warts-and-all history with cinematic action.” Kirkus Reviews
“… grippingly panoramic in scope, stretching from vignettes involving Abraham Lincoln to the hotspots of the Jazz Era … and harrowing evocations of the Civil War’s bloodshed. Devil´s Den is a tightly controlled and extremely satisfying novel …. Highly recommended.” Historical Novels Society Review
307 pages, Paperback
Published January 31, 2022
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About the author
Timothy Ashby
18 books12 followersTimothy Ashby worked in Washington, D.C. as a counter-terrorism consultant to the U.S. State Department, and a senior official at the U.S. Commerce Department. He held two Top Secret security clearances and worked with a number of colorful characters, including members of the U.S. military’s Joint Special Operations Command.
Before and after his career in Washington, Ashby led a peripatetic life. Born in the USA, he spent his teenage years in Grenada, where he learned to surf, sail and dive, and where his lifelong passion for history and archaeology was inspired.
It was also in Grenada that he became passionate about writing, having the good fortune to be mentored by authors Martin Woodhouse and Dudley Pope. Mr. Pope named one of the characters in his Lord Ramage series “Captain Ashby,” in honor of the teenage Tim Ashby.
After moving to in Spain and then the UK, Ashby returned to Grenada in his early 20s. There he served as a director of various businesses until the Communist Revolution of 1979. Ashby received his PhD in International Relations from the University of Southern California. In the 1990s, he lived in the UK, earning an MBA degree at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and working in Central and Eastern Europe on a variety of privatization and economic development projects. He also has a law degree, and is a licensed attorney in Florida and Washington, D.C. He has been a successful entrepreneur, serving as CEO of several global companies that he founded. He is the author of Time Fall, Devil’s Den, Missed Opportunities, The Bear in the Back Yard, numerous articles, and the prize-winning ghost story, “Warrior’s Return.”
Before and after his career in Washington, Ashby led a peripatetic life. Born in the USA, he spent his teenage years in Grenada, where he learned to surf, sail and dive, and where his lifelong passion for history and archaeology was inspired.
It was also in Grenada that he became passionate about writing, having the good fortune to be mentored by authors Martin Woodhouse and Dudley Pope. Mr. Pope named one of the characters in his Lord Ramage series “Captain Ashby,” in honor of the teenage Tim Ashby.
After moving to in Spain and then the UK, Ashby returned to Grenada in his early 20s. There he served as a director of various businesses until the Communist Revolution of 1979. Ashby received his PhD in International Relations from the University of Southern California. In the 1990s, he lived in the UK, earning an MBA degree at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and working in Central and Eastern Europe on a variety of privatization and economic development projects. He also has a law degree, and is a licensed attorney in Florida and Washington, D.C. He has been a successful entrepreneur, serving as CEO of several global companies that he founded. He is the author of Time Fall, Devil’s Den, Missed Opportunities, The Bear in the Back Yard, numerous articles, and the prize-winning ghost story, “Warrior’s Return.”
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 19, 2025
1796 Arthur Charteris inherits a baronetcy and comes from Granada to Leicestershire to claim it. With him are two servants and his child Alexander (Chart) by his recently deceased slavewoman Weju. Half-caste Chart is raised as a gentleman alongside his cousin, the hunchbacked Pemberton, until Pemb commits a crime and is banished from the household.
Chart goes to boarding school where Pemb is already studying and is violently bullied by his cousin. He falls in love with Arabella, but they are separated when he joins the East India Company.
Upon the death of his father, Chart returns home to find not only that Pemb has thoroughly usurped him and married Arabella, but legally he is considered Pemb’s chattel. He is seized and taken to Grenada to be worked as a field slave on the sugar plantation where he grew up.
Chart ‘feels like an Anglo-Saxon’ inside, a ‘man caught between two worlds’, and despite being helped by prominent abolitionists, he tends to look upon his case as a property dispute rather than a manumission issue.
The French Revolution comes to the island in the form of a slave revolt, but Chart’s position is ambiguous. The revolt gives him his freedom, but he refuses to join in the violent reprisals against the British landowners. Instead, he joins the Black Rangers and fights against the French, to crush the rebellion. But he still has to face his cousin.
The interplay between class interests, race interests, and national—even tribal—interests is complex, aggravated by the hypocrisy of the French Revolution, betrayed before it could truly deliver liberté, egalité, fraternité.
The events in this book and many of the people were real. Unfortunately, the horrific depictions of abuse and degradation of the slaves were taken from true accounts.
Book One in the Storm of War series.
This review first appeared in Historical Novels Review.
Chart goes to boarding school where Pemb is already studying and is violently bullied by his cousin. He falls in love with Arabella, but they are separated when he joins the East India Company.
Upon the death of his father, Chart returns home to find not only that Pemb has thoroughly usurped him and married Arabella, but legally he is considered Pemb’s chattel. He is seized and taken to Grenada to be worked as a field slave on the sugar plantation where he grew up.
Chart ‘feels like an Anglo-Saxon’ inside, a ‘man caught between two worlds’, and despite being helped by prominent abolitionists, he tends to look upon his case as a property dispute rather than a manumission issue.
The French Revolution comes to the island in the form of a slave revolt, but Chart’s position is ambiguous. The revolt gives him his freedom, but he refuses to join in the violent reprisals against the British landowners. Instead, he joins the Black Rangers and fights against the French, to crush the rebellion. But he still has to face his cousin.
The interplay between class interests, race interests, and national—even tribal—interests is complex, aggravated by the hypocrisy of the French Revolution, betrayed before it could truly deliver liberté, egalité, fraternité.
The events in this book and many of the people were real. Unfortunately, the horrific depictions of abuse and degradation of the slaves were taken from true accounts.
Book One in the Storm of War series.
This review first appeared in Historical Novels Review.
March 5, 2022
what a neat story, the author pulls no punches and descibes the life of a mixed blood Englishman who was kidnapped and sent to Grenada where he lived the life of a slave. Its sad in places and doesn't have a good feeling ending but it is a page turner and a page turner to the very last word.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews