Sails on the Horizon
Thursday, December 24th, 2009
Jay Worrall
Worrall’s hero, Charles Edgemont, promoted as a result of being the ranking surviving officer of a ship of the line at the Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797) gains riches from prizes but doubts his courage. He’s given command of a frigate, falls in love with a Quaker girl in England, and fights a larger French frigate. The romance and the relationships of Edgemont, his officers, and crew are nicely drawn. Cleverly, Worrall has his protagonist meet a young Horatio Hornblower.
The novel is a tad anachronistic and doesn’t have the fine eye for period detail of some others in the genre, but it’s entertaining and fast-moving The battles could be more vivid and imaginative; sometimes Edgemont’s victories seem too easy
