Blockade-running blockbuster

RARELY does a shipbroker inspire a writer of fiction, but one of the founders of Galbraith’s has done just that, immortalised in a new historical novel. Blockade Runner, by David Kent-Lemon, follows the adventures of Tom Wells, an employee of Edward Pembroke.

Lloyd's List

Blockade Runner by David Kent-Lemon, is published by Pen and Sword Books. It follows the adventures of Tom Wells, an employee of Edward Pembroke, who runs the Union naval blockade of the southern states’ ports, smuggling arms to the south, and cotton out again.

Shoes and Ships

Tom's high sea adventure is edge of the seat stuff, in some ways providing a marine counterpoint to Bernard Cornwell's Starbuck stories from the same era. The chase sequences show that Wells and his crew (including the wonderful swashbuckling Harry Mansell) are always on the verge of destruction. This is proof that the author can do 'unexpected' brilliantly for, like Tom, we can't foretell when the next emergency will occur. I found one event in particular a finger nail chewer. Also, on land we experience the effects of war, notably a 19th century blitz as a dinner party is shelled, again introducing doubt into the notion that southern man would endure.

Interesting snippets of information are also woven into the story, showing how England was tied in to the South's fate, e.g. via the effects of the 'King Cotton' legislation and American agents working in English harbours. Battle names like Shiloh and Manassas are mentioned in passing but in a way that makes us want to research independently, the conflict being personalised in the writing.

Now comes the scoring bit and I'm painfully conflicted. The excitement, information and suspense that flow from David Kent-Lemon's pen would make this an unarguable 5. However, the woman must be taken into account so, sighing sadly, it gets a 4. I await the next book with eagerness as most of this novel rates up there with Bernard Cornwell.

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