Showing results by narrator "Michael Jayston" in All Categories

Spithead, 1784. His Majesty's frigate, Undine, sets sail for India and the seas beyond. Europe may be at peace - but in colonial waters the promises of statesmen count for little and the bloody struggle for supremacy still goes on. Richard Bolitho would have cause to remember his admiral's words: 'The task I am giving you would be better handled by a squadron'.

New York, 1777. As the American Revolution rages on the mainland, the British Navy prepares for action at sea. Against a growing fleet of American and French privateers, the Navy must maintain its blockade of Washington's vital military supplies. Caught up in the turmoil, junior officer Richard Bolitho finds himself having to make momentous decisions in the heat of battle, decisions that will affect the lives of many men, and perhaps the outcome of history.

In the Second World War every bond between man and man was to perish. Crimes were committed by the Hitler regime which find no equal in scale and wickedness with any that have darkened the human record. It was a simple policy to keep Germany disarmed after the struggle of the First World War and the Victors adequately armed in vigilance. But errors were soon made.

Despatched on a secret mission, the company of a 28-gun frigate must face the hazards of conspiracy, treason, and piracy. And recently appointed third lieutentant Richard Bolitho must learn to accept his new responsibilities as a King's officer.

Brought to you by Penguin. Fatherland is set in an alternative world where Hitler has won the Second World War. It is April 1964 and one week before Hitler's 75th birthday. Xavier March, a detective of the Kriminalpolizei, is called out to investigate the discovery of a dead body in a lake near...

The New York Times bestselling classic of alternate history, a murder mystery set in a world where the Nazis won World War II—for fans of The Plot Against America and The Man in the High Castle Berlin, 1964. The Greater German Reich stretches from the Rhine to the Urals, and keeps an uneasy...

As the French enter the American War of Independence, young Richard Bolitho is given command of the fast, well-armed sloop Sparrow. He has a chance to prove his ability, but danger threatens - as real and deadly as the enemy itself.

West Germany in the 1960s is a simmering cauldron of radical protests. Amid the turmoil Leo Harting, a Second Secretary in the British Embassy, has gone missing - along with more than forty Confidential embassy files. Alan Turner of the Foreign Office must travel to Bonn to recover them. As he gets closer to the truth of Harting's disappearance, he will discover that the face of Cold War Europe - and the attentions of the British Ministry itself - are far uglier that he could possibly have imagined.

Returning to England after the dramatic capture of Martinique, Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho attains an all too brief respite from war and politics. But the shadow of a new conflict already darkens the horizon. The old enemy, France, forges an uneasy alliance with America - threatening the safety of British trade routes. Although ordered immediately to the Indian Ocean, Bolitho’s thoughts are of his own - and the Navy’s - past. Both Nelson and Collingwood died in their country’s service.

“Any reader who feared that the end of the Cold War would deprive Mr. le Carré of his subject can now feel a measure of relief. If anything, his subject of East-West misunderstanding has grown richer, and he now possesses vast new territories to mine" (The New York Times). New York Times...

September 1804: England stands alone against France and the fleets of Spain, anticipating invasion. Vice-admiral Richard Bolitho has his own troubles to settle at home too. But his time on land is broken by an urgent summons from the King. Once more Bolitho hoists his flag above the veteran 74-gun ship Hyperion and sets sail - this time with a new squadron headed for the Caribbean.

It is February 1818, and Adam Bolitho longs for marriage and a safe personal harbour. But with so much of Britain's fleet redundant, he knows he is fortunate to be offered HMS Onward, a new 38-gun frigate whose first mission is not war but diplomacy, as consort to the French frigate Nautilus.

Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho finds himself the new master of the Argonaute, a French flagship taken in battle. With the Peace of Amiens in ruins, he must leave the safety of Falmouth. What lies ahead is the grim reality of war at close quarters - where Bolitho will be called upon to anticipate the overall intention of the French fleet. But the battle has also become a personal vendetta between himself and the French admiral who formerly sailed the Argonaute.

It is February 1813. With convoys from Canada and the Caribbean falling victim to American privateers, Sir Richard Bolitho returns to Halifax to pursue a war he knows will not be won, but which neither Britain nor the United States can afford to lose. England's youngest admiral desires only peace. But peace will not be found in the icy Canadian waters, where a young, angry nation asserts its identity and men who share a common heritage die in close and bloody action.

It is 1811, and in this, the 22nd Richard Bolitho novel, Alexander Kent's sensitive and compassionate hero is recalled to duty after only two and a half months' peace in Cornwall with his beloved Catherine.

'An unputdownable thriller about corrupt power and sex' Sunday Telegraph 'Guaranteed to keep you awake' The Times A body washes up on the deserted coastline of America's most exclusive holiday retreat. But it's no open-and-shut case of suicide. The death of Robert McAra is just the first piece...

A magnificent exploration of the new world order from New York Times bestselling author John le Carré, one of the most compelling and elegant storytellers of our time. When Tessa Quayle—a young, beautiful woman and Justin’s beloved wife—is gruesomely murder in northern Kenya, Justin sets...

The Mediterranean, 1793. Despite Britain's successes, the outcome of the sea war is still in the balance. As soon as his ship's refit is completed, Captain Richard Bolitho is ordered to join the blockade off the French coast.

Although the Grand Alliance was now in place, Churchill knew that it would take precious time before it would be able to effectively engage and subdue the enemy. Disaster was upon him almost at once. With the entrance of Japan into the global conflict, our Far East possessions were under immediate threat. Singapore and the Philippines fell. In Africa, Rommel took Tobruk. At sea, the loss of ships mounted. His task seemed ever greater, but his spirit, his resolve, his belief in his people's ability to overcome the terrible evil of Nazism was unshakeable.

March 1814. Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho returns to England from several months' rigorous patrolling off the North American coast. War with the United States has not yet ended, but news of Napoleon's defeat and abdication has stunned a navy and a nation bled by years of European conflict. Victory has been the impossible dream, and now, for Bolitho, a vision of the future and a personal peace seems attainable. However, an unsympathetic Admiralty dispatches him to Malta.