Blown Off Course - (John Pearce) by David Donachie (Paperback)

About the Book

Lieutenant John Pearce is seeking protection for his friends from a reluctant Admiralty. Lacking the evidence of perjury, his prospects are not promising. Ralph Barclay's wife has the means to get her own way: the evidence Pearce believes was lost at sea. His friends join Pear...

Book Synopsis

Lieutenant John Pearce is in London seeking protection for his friends, the Pelicans, from a reluctant Admiralty. Sitting in the tavern where they were first press ganged, Pearce considers his future. Lacking the evidence of perjury he once had to bring Captain Ralph Barclay to justice, his prospects are not promising. Ralph Barclay's young wife, Emily, is refusing to live under the same roof as him and she has the means to get her own way: the evidence Pearce believes was lost at sea. Pearce's companions finally arrive in London just in time to join Pearce in fetching a ship laden with contraband back from France--an illegal act but very profitable. Are Pearce and his Pelicans sailing into prosperity or danger?

Review Quotes

Exciting and unpredictable.-- "The Bookbag"

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

High-speed epic from an ace storyteller.-- "Daily Sport"

Outflanking and out-gunning C. S. Forester.-- "Cambridge Evening News"

Pure adventure with excitement and daring all the way . . . historical fiction at its very best.--Historical Novels Review Online

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.