The Black Swan

In the late seventeenth-century Caribbean, Priscilla Harradine is travelling to England under the protection of Major Sands. A fellow passenger, the polished Frenchman Charles de Bernis, seems to know rather too much about the dangerous world beyond their ship. When pirates seize control of the voyage, his ability to negotiate, deceive and conceal his intentions becomes essential to survival. Rafael Sabatini builds the adventure around a difficult question of trust. A courteous gentleman may be selfish, while a man with a buccaneer's past may prove capable of honour. Sea battles and duels accompany a struggle in which appearances repeatedly mislead, and escape depends as much on understanding other people as on courage with a sword.