Leeward (Nightingale & Courtney, #1)

For whatever we lose, it is our self we find in the sea.

1800. HMS Ulysses mutinies off Trinidad and vanishes into the Caribbean. No one knows how many of the crew are left alive or what the mutineers plan to do with the vessel.

Captain Hiram Nightingale is a veteran of the wars which have raged throughout Europe and the Americas for the last decades. But a grand victory at the Battle of the Nile comes at a devastating cost. Plagued by wounds both physical and mental, he attempts to recover by accepting command of HMS Scylla. His task is to hunt down the mutineers and bring the ship and crew to justice.

However, it soon becomes clear that the Ulysses is just one danger in an immense web. Nightingale finds himself in the middle of a network of secrets that will affect everyone onboard the Scylla. He has to battle against the perils of the war-torn seas, a crew who he fears does not accept him, and meddling, powerful figures from the past.

And in the centre of all this, his new lieutenant, the popular Arthur Courtney, stirs up long repressed feelings. On his journey, Nightingale must confront his own demons. For it seems, during his dangerous adventure, Nightingale's greatest enemy might be himself.

A deeply poignant tale of naval warfare, political intrigue and a love that stands tall in an unaccepting world.