The King's Coat

by Dewey Lambdin

Overview

1780: Seventeen-year-old Alan Lewrie is a brash, rebellious young libertine. So much so that his callous father believes a bit of navy discipline will turn the boy around. Fresh aboard the tall-masted Ariadne, Midshipman Lewrie heads for the war-torn Americas, finding—rather unexpectedly—that he is a born sailor, equally at home with the randy pleasures of the port and the raging battles on the high seas. But in a hail of cannonballs comes a bawdy surprise.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590137567
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	07/01/2018
Series:	Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	397
Sales rank:	208,339
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Dewey Lambdin has been a sailor since 1976 and has worked as a director, writer, and producer for television and advertising. He is the author of the Alan Lewrie series and What Lies Buried: A Novel of Old Cape Fear. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Editorial Reviews

This auspicious beginning of a series has a very modern sensibility.”  —Publishers Weekly

"The best naval series since C.S. Forester."  —Library Journal

"You can get addicted to this series. Easily."  —The New York Times Book Review

"Fast-moving at sea, nicely lewd ashore, a hugely likable hero, a huge cast of sharply drawn supporting characters; there's nothing missing. Wonderful stuff."  —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Comparisons will be made between Midshipman Alan Lewrie and Forester's Horatio Hornblower, but this auspicious beginning of a series has a very modern sensibility. In 1780, at the age of 17, our hero, bastard son of Sir Hugo Willoughby, is already a practicing rake in London. Caught in flagrante with his sluttish half-sister, he is banished to the Navy in a nasty ploy by Sir Hugo to rob the boy of his inheritance. During Alan's year on the 64-gun Adriadne , on the American-built schooner Parrot and on the frigate Desperate , he becomes an adept, even valiant sailor. There are foes at sea (a snotty fellow midshipman, a sanctimonious captain, American rebels) and ashore (Sir Hugo and minions), but there are also friends, notably Lt. Kenyon, skipper of the Parrot , and Lucy Beauman, beautiful niece of an admiral. Lambdin's crisp, gory action scenes possibly are marred for landlubbers by heavy nautical jargon, but graphic ribaldry involving a couple of older ladies needs no translation. (June)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Lambdin's Alan Lewrie stacks up well with C.S. Forester's Hornblowe r and Alexander Kent's Bolitho as a fictional naval officer. In this first novel, Lewrie, at 17, is unwillingly made a midshipman in the British navy of 1780. He sails first in a ship-of-the-line, later in a schooner, and finally a frigate. Storms, battles, duels, and difficulties begin to change him from a spoiled fop into a competent officer who is slowly coming to take pride in his hard service. Lambdin makes his character very human and believable. Questions about his background and prospects are left intriguingly unanswered. Lambdin also demonstrates a good enough grasp of sailing and 18th-century sea warfare to satisfy readers of this genre, who are quick to catch any mistakes. A good yarn that promises to become a good series.-- C. Robert Nixon, M.L.S., Lafayette, Ind.

Library Journal

If Horatio Hornblower is the gentleman’s sailor and Jack Aubrey is the thinking man’s sailor, Lewrie is of and for the working class. Pugnacious and randy, he’s a refreshing sea breeze.

San Jose Mercury News

.. . his portrayal of the foul conditions aboard the creaking, uncomfortable vessels of the 18th century are well done. For readers who enjoy action and adventure, this one is sure to please.

Macon Telegraph

You could get addicted to this series. Easily.

New York Times Book Review

Stunning naval adventure, reeking of powder and mayhem. I wish I had written this series.

Bernard Cornwell