Paul C. R. Monk

This is a spin off novel from the author's trilogy about 17th century French Huguenot families fleeing persecution in their own country and settling elsewhere in Europe and the New World. This centres around French lieutenant turned privateer Didier Ducamp and courtesan turned spy May Stuart. They team together to escape from the activities of the cruel pirate Captain Brook in his hunt for treasure, involving the casual killing of many innocent civilians. I found this last aspect particularly depressing here, perhaps because my mental state has been a bit low recently, and I was really pleased with Ducamp and May getting together at the end and voyaging off to start a new life in America.… (más)

This is the third volume in the author's trilogy about the 17th century French Huguenot family the Delpechs, who have had to flee their home and find themselves separated on different continents following persecution by King Louis XIV. Jacob finally makes his way back across the Atlantic to London at the time when the Protestant William of Orange lands in Britain to assume the kingship from the Catholic James II. As a result, he is pretty much expected to join William's army fighting against Catholics in Ireland. At the same time, Jacob's wife Jeanne is a weaver in London, forced to work for an English employer with whom she has a tense relationship. At the end of the novel, they are finally reunited. I have enjoyed this trilogy a lot, though this mostly wasn't as tense as the first volume.… (más)

This the second volume of the author's trilogy about the lives of the Delpechs, a late 17th century French Huguenot family who have fallen foul of King Louis XIV's rules enforcing Catholic uniformity. At the end of the first book, Jacob was exiled to the New World, while his wife Jeanne has escaped to Geneva, a Calvinist stronghold. Most of the book follows Jacob's grim voyage and further travels, including falling in with pirates and coming across a former enemy from France in a new guise. Jeanne's exploits are less dramatic but she faces rivalry from local traders as she tries to earn a living in Geneva, while the city comes under pressure from France to give up the Huguenot refugees. At the end of the book, it looks like they are shortly to be reunited in London. This book was good, but for me lacked the dramatic flow of the first book. Will look forward to the final book in the trilogy, though.… (más)