Tato autorka, píšící pod pseudonymem, se proslavila svými poutavými historickými romány, které často zasazují čtenáře do napínavého světa námořních bitev a hrdinských činů. Její styl se vyznačuje precizním vykreslením historického prostředí a schopností vtáhnout čtenáře do dramatických událostí 18. století. Prostřednictvím svých postav zkoumá témata cti, odvahy a morálních dilemat v dobách válečného konfliktu. Její práce jsou ceněny pro svou schopnost oživit minulost a nabídnout čtenářům napínavý literární zážitek.
'Fire as she bears. Rake her, lads.' Winter, 1793. Newly promoted Master and Commander Charles Hayden's orders are to deliver the frigate HMS Themis to Lord Admiral Hood, whose fleet is sheltering in the Mediterranean. Only hours out of port, however, and the Themis is engaging with the French navy.
Born to an English father and a French mother, lieutenant Charles Saunders Hayden's career is damned by his ?mixed? heritage. Assigned to the HMS Themis , an aging frigate under the command of a captain reviled by his crew for both his brutality towards his men and his cowardice in battle, Hayden is torn between honor and duty, as the British navy engages the French in a centuries-old struggle for power.
Captain Charles Hayden has orders to destroy a French frigate sailing from Le Havre and to gather intelligence from a royalist spy. On discovering French plans for an imminent attack on British soil, Hayden must return to Portsmouth to give warning before it is too late. But the enemy have been lying in wait for him, and so begins a dangerous chase out into the Atlantic and into the midst of a French squadron.