Captain Hawke

I really enjoyed this book. I mean, really, really enjoyed it. It is a thunderingly good adventure story in the tradition of Dumas or Sabatini. It is also beautifully written, with turns of phrase and period references that flow smoothly in a pacey narrative. The language is modern but carries the ambiance of the era, and that is what tends to define good historical fiction writing for me. Our hero, James Hawke, suffered unimaginable loss on the eve of the conflagration that erupted in British civil wars. Not the best known of wars, but ones that killed a higher proportion of the British population than any war since, and set parent against child and sibling against sibling, passionately fighting for whichever cause they separately upheld. In popular history these wars are often presented as being something to do with freedom (Parliament) versus tyranny (the King), but in fact, as this book helps to show, it was religion that was the root of the matter and not politics. Indeed after the war Parliament crushed those calling for democracy. War came about primarily because the Puritan extremists (mostly Presbyterians but also Independents) were not happy with the king's belief in Arminianism (freewill) over Calvinism (predestination) and bishops. For Hawke, the question of religion was even more difficult as neither side liked Catholics, but at least the king, married to a Catholic queen, seemed willing to tolerate them. With the navy declared for Parliament, Hawke became a privateer for the king. The result? A gloriously swashbuckling adventure, mostly on sea but on land as well in places. As someone who writes in the period, one of the most captivating aspects of this book for me is the presentation of Prince Rupert. He has some marvellous lines and I feel the author managed to distill a good proportion of the sort of personality we see revealed from the prince’s own historical words and deeds. A man of his time, but with a greater vision than many. A man who cared passionately for his uncle, his duty, his faith, his friends. I enjoyed spending time with Mitchell’s Rupert just as much as Hawke does. But there is a caveat that comes with this otherwise unstinting praise and it’s a pretty big one. Like Dumas and Sabatini the author has created a compelling page-turning story, with dauntless characters of daring-do, but, also like Dumas and Sabatini, he plays very fast and loose with the historical record. Faster and looser than most modern writers of this sort of historical fiction tend to do nowadays. Although there is an excellent and technically detailed appendix of nautical facts, and a solid sense of time and place in the writing, the narrative we follow often diverges from recorded events. Yes, the main pillars of history built on solid foundations and buried deep in the sands of time remain unchanged, but the story, as the author fully admits, slaloms between those pillars with glee and abandon, often in very wide meandering curves. So if historical accuracy is important to your enjoyment of historical fiction, I advise you not to go here as you will spend too much time moaning: “It wasn’t quite like that!” But if you love a roaring, tumultuous ride, full of pathos and with some humour, set against a convincingly-painted, period backdrop of one of the most dramatic eras of British history, with nautical adventure front and centre, then grab hold of the whipstaff and steer yourself a course for this book. You are going to love it!

What a gritty book.... Hawke is a guy who goes from being a regular tavern-keeper just trying to protect his family to a revenge-driven privateer captain. When he ends up outwitting a couple of Barbary galleys in the fog with a brutal trap involving his own crewmen literally stuffed into women's dresses...you feel like you're actually there with him. The story is packed with realistic characters, and enough cannons and sword fights for an action nut like me. Definitely enjoyed this one.

I had the opportunity to read an advance copy of Peter Mitchell’s Captain Hawke. It is a truly captivating story full of tense scenes that make it nearly impossible to stop reading. This is one of those rare, well-written and well-structured manuscripts that draws you in completely. I often found myself forgetting where I was or what I was doing and simply reading on to see what happened next. Mitchell's writing delivers genuine emotional impact—I was truly saddened by Hawke’s experiences of suffering and loss, and the way the progression of Hawke's emotions is conveyed engages you from cover to cover. Highly recommended.