A Divided Command - (John Pearce) by David Donachie (Paperback)

About the Book

Volume #10 in the John Pearce Adventures. 1794: Stationed in the Mediterranean, John Pearce finds himself entangled in a political plot and fighting against a superior force of Barbary corsairs.

Book Synopsis

The tenth volume in the popular John Pearce Adventures set on the high seas

1794: The Mediterranean is proving to be dangerous waters for John Pearce and his Pelicans. Having left his lover, Emily, the wife of his mortal enemy Ralph Barclay, in the Tuscan port of Leghorn, Pearce is detained in Naples. When he unknowingly delivers a letter promoting the shady and incompetent Admiral Hotham, Pearce finds himself entangled in a political plot that soon puts those closest to him at peril.

When reunited with Emily, John Pearce faces a losing battle to maintain her reputation. Emily sees no future for herself with Pearce and leaves while he is conveying private letters for Horatio Nelson to the British ambassador, Sir William Hamilton. Learning of her departure, Pearce sets off in pursuit. At the same time, he takes on a superior Barbary corsairs force that has targeted the merchant ship on which Emily is traveling, the Sandown Castle.

Outgunned by a barbaric opponent, John Pearce's chances of survival--and those of Emily and Pearce's crew--are dubious. And even if they can win this fierce battle, another threat looms on the horizon, as Pearce is not the only one chasing Emily. Ralph Barclay has learned of his wife's desertion and is on his way to recapture her.

Review Quotes

David Donachie delivers yet another fun and fast naval yarn in the tradition of Forester and O'Brian, with the added interest of a hero struggling with his not-exactly-chosen career, and lots of fascinating insight on the workings of the Mediterranean Fleet in the 1790s.

Exciting and unpredictable.

High adventure and detection; cunningly spliced battle scenes which reek of blood and brine; excitements on terra firma to match

High-speed epic from an ace storyteller.

Outflanking and out-gunning C. S. Forester.

About the Author

David Donachie (1944-2023) was born in Edinburgh. He always had an abiding interest in military history, including ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, the British navy of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the clandestine services during the Second World War. He had more than fifty published novels to his credit, with over a million combined sales. David lived in Deal, the historic English seaport on the border of the English Channel and the North Sea.