A Battle Won is the second book in Sean Thomas Russell’s series featuring Captain Charles Hayden of the Royal Navy, circa 1793. In this story Hayden is restored to acting Captain of the Frigate Themis. He is ordered to escort a convoy from England to Gibraltar and turn over his ship to Admiral Lord Hood in the Mediterranean Sea.
Hayden enters and escapes France’s Toulon harbor and sets to help in the capture of the island of Corsica. He helps rescue a French woman and her daughter, an act that will come back to haunt him. His staff plays a game of golf while at Gibraltar that is laugh out loud funny. He encounters two members of the British clergy, one of whom tries to undermine him with his crew and Lord Hood. He has run-ins with two disagreeable naval captains. His romance with Henrietta that started to blossom in Under Enemy Colors hits a major and possibly fatal snag.
Many of these story lines are based on real events and several characters are based on real players in history. As much as I enjoyed Under Enemy Colors, A Battle Won surpasses the first book’s writing and story telling. Run, don’t walk, to your nearest bookseller for this book.
Go! Buy! Read! —Jim Harris, retired NW independent book rep
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