On a Making Tide

Publisher: Orion Books Ltd 2000 £ 7.99

Starting in 1771 when Horatio Nelson was twelve and Emma Hamilton (nee Lyon) was nine, this biographical novel relates the next twenty-seven years of their lives.  Biographical because the author has used the historical information available to him and a novel because into that framework he has woven his imaginative account with considerable skill.

 The narrative describes in detail the life and times of the Navy and the drawing rooms of the late C18 and enthrals the reader with detailed accounts of Nelson’s sea battles.  Rising from the harsh world of the midshipmans’ cabin to fame and honour by his late thirties, it is then that the much-wounded Admiral finally falls into the arms of Emma, Lady Hamilton.  Her story is no less fascinating as she rises from rags to riches and, despite much social opposition, becomes the wife of Sir William Hamilton, Ambassador to the Court of the King of Naples.  This is but the first part of the story to be continued in a future novel which will, presumably, take us through to the fatal moment of Nelson’s triumph at Trafalgar. A story awaited with keen anticipation. - CH

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