In the autumn of 1861 a British warship is wrecked upon the coast of Southern Japan. Two officers, Lieutenant Nicholas Barrett and Midshipman Tom Ebury, manage to struggle ashore, to embark upon a strange, exotic and violent adventure. For Japan, penetrated only seven years earlier by the ‘black ships’ of the American Commodore Perry, is just awakening from two and a half centuries of inwardly-turning isolation, and the debate as to whether to accept or reject ‘barbarian tutelage’ is about to burst into civil war. Out of this will come the resurgence of Japan under the Meiji Emperor, and its rise to being the major power in East Asia. In these events, Nicholas Barrett, forced to become a renegade, plays his part. Inducted as a Samurai, married to a Japanese woman, he is entrusted with the task of creating a navy for the newly emergent nation, a growing fleet of great ships which will eventually gain the most complete naval victory in history. Praise for Christopher Nicole... “Fast-paced, entertaining, appealing!” – Library Journal Christopher Nicole’s novels have been read by millions all over the world. His McGann family chronicles concluded with Raging Sea, Searing Sky and The Passion and The Glory, whilst more recent publications have included The Triumph, Dragon’s Blood and The Command.
