| 1828 |
George Ie Fanu Gurney, formerly of His Majesty's Navy, is-now, in 1828, a prosperous NorfoIk shipbuilder. Together with his wife, the beautiful Lady Arabella, he is summoned to London by his attorneys to receive news of an unexpected legacy in the form of a Jamaican plantation. On returning home to Sea Dalling, Gurney becomes involved in a duel - the outcome is death, and with it news of an old enemy. The blood spilled that day was the first of a long trail stretching across the Atlantic to the Jamaican plantation-house at Silverwood, and on by the old slave routes to the fever-swamps of the unexplored Niger delta, And as the trail grew longer it became clearer, until it bore the unmistakable mark of one Mathias Otway, merchant, hypocrite and thief, making a final desperate bid for power and riches, while teetering on the brink of insanity. Once again Gunleyand the Lady Arabella, together with the crew of his twelve-gun schooner, Vandal, sail into danger. For Gurney, the danger lies in the slave markets of the Bight of Benin, where human life is cheap and quickly sold. For the Lady Arabella, it lies in the hatred of powerful Jamaicans who know she holds the key to their ruin. For Vandal's crew, it lies in storm, disease and bloody battle on both sides of the Atlantic. And behind it all hovers the enigmatic figure of his old friend, the Sufi wanderer Haji Basreddin, now one of the puppet-masters of Admiralty Intelligence. Gurney and his people sail on, the mesh of intrigue closes tighter and tighter. At the end of it all stands the gallows, high on the waterfront at Kingston. But for whom ... ? |
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Author: Sam Llewellyn Title: Gurney's Release Series: George le Fanu Gurney First Published by: Arlington Books Place: London Format: HC Date: 1979 ISBN-10: 0851403190 ISBN-13: |
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