Author:Douglas Reeman
1941
To the residents and defence forces of the Crown Colony of Hong Kong, the war in Europe remains remote. Even the massive build-up of Japanese forces on the Chinese border cannot dent their carefree optimism.
Yet one man suspects the truth. Lieutenant-Commander Esmond Brooke, captain of HMS Serpent and a veteran of the cruel Atlantic, sees all too clearly the folly and incompetence of Hong Kong's colonial administration. To Brooke, attack by Japan seems inevitable.
However, in war there will always be some who attempt the impossible, even in the face of death. This is the story of one ship and her company who refuse to accept the anguish of defeat and surrender to a merciless enemy...
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A thrilling tale of naval warfare from Douglas Reeman, the all-time bestselling master of naval fiction, who served with the Royal Navy on convoy duty in the Atlantic, the Arctic and the North Sea. He has written dozens of naval books under his own name and the pseudonym Alexander Kent, including the famous Richard Bolitho books set during the Napoleonic Wars.
One can almost smell the sea and the burning oil
—— Sunday ExpressMr Reeman writes with great knowledge about the sea and those who sail on it
—— The TimesChock full of military fat to chew on...will keep you awake until dawn
—— FHMall of the customary pulse-raising in-your-face elements are present here...a truly nerve-scraping read, with a chaotic background of the country in collapse accentuating the tension
—— The Good Book GuideIgnites with an energy that should ensure short-listing in the next Man Booker Prize....Farndale's evocation of trench warfare surpasses Sebastian Faulks's Birdsong...Of the book's many accomplishments perhaps the strongest is the writing itself. Exquisite and luminous...Farndale gives a master class in the power of literature to illuminate the physical world and the human soul.
—— The AustralianLove, cowardice and redemption are the themes that stalk Farndale's beautifully intelligent tale.
—— Daily MirrorProfound, moving and compelling. A beautifully composed novel.
—— Emily MaitlisA beguiling and resonant novel of ideas. The action is vivid and absorbing...although this intergenerational family drama is plotted like a thriller, it's also a novel of ideas, throwing light on the strange dance between religion and science.
—— Cameron Woodhead , Melbourne AgeBeautiful...Farndale's elegant prose, his storytelling ability and the wise tolerance with which he views...his characters lend his exhilarating novel a tenderly redemptive afterimage.
—— Jane Shilling , Sunday TelegraphIt makes exhilarating reading, all the better for its satirical edge.
—— The TabletLove, terrorism, plane crashes, Passchendaele, religious visions... The highest compliment one can pay Farndale... is that the material is so well marshalled that the narrative unfurls without strain....beautifully done.
—— Mail on SundayPhilosophically ambitious and deftly crafted, Nigel Farndale's novel has one leg planted in the trenches of the First World War and the other placed sure-footedly in the present...perspicacious observations of human behaviour... beautiful.
—— Country LifeA constantly engaging and witty novel from a tremendously clever writer.
—— TelegraphPlausiby drawn....strong central characters, interesting subplots and well-sketched minor characters.
—— TLSAs idiosyncratic as it is ambitious...given shape and purpose by a true literary craftsman. The book both keeps you reading and makes you think.
—— Sally Cousins , Sunday TelegraphI drank in Nigel Farndale's The Blasphemer in huge lungfuls, and mourned it when it was finished. For anyone who loved Saturday, Atonement or Birdsong, this is the generational novel at its best.
—— Mail on Sunday
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