Genre: Historical
Fiction/Short Story
Description:
“In the final years of the Victorian era, a French fisherman and an
English aristocrat team up on a harrowing adventure that brings forth an epic
battle of greed, survival, and redemption.
In the port city of Grimsby, England, a down on his luck French
fisherman named Georges DuFort meets Cornelius Braddock, a widowed aristocrat
searching for a reason to live. Georges tells him the tale of a long-lost ship loaded
with Spanish gold that disappeared off the African coast while on the run from
the conquering armies of Napoleon Bonaparte. After Georges shares the
treasure's secret location, the two men form a quick bond and begin to plan for
the voyage of a lifetime. Things then take a turn for the worse when Georges
mysteriously disappears on the eve of the journey and forces Braddock to embark
on the treasure hunt without him.
After many months and thought to be lost at sea, Braddock washes up on
the shores of France half-dead with a tragic tale of bloodlust and mutiny.
Since he returns home without the ship or its crew, he is thrown into prison
and blamed for their disappearance. Unable to convince the authorities of what
really happened, Braddock is labeled a coward and a criminal for saving only
himself and abandoning his crew to the harsh fate of the ocean.
Now, only Georges may hold the key to what truly happened on that
fateful voyage and if the stories of the Spanish treasure were true after all.
Will he find redemption for Braddock, or will the truth remain buried at sea?
Find out in this gripping tale of a long-lost treasure and the lives it forever
changed.”
Author:
“Eric Daniel Ryan and his family live north of Boston in the shadows
of Old Salem Village, the Rebecca Nurse Homestead, and Lovecraft’s Arkham
Asylum. After studying screenwriting and film production at the School of
Visual Arts, he served three years in the US Army and is a combat veteran of
the war in Iraq. In 2005 Eric became a Boston Firefighter and, in 2017, opened
a business selling and collecting rare, original movie posters. Each night,
after tucking the little ones into bed, he settles down in his
two-hundred-year-old home to finish his first novel. His short story, The
Orchid, was previously published in the anthology Portraits of the Pen
by City Limits Publishing.”
Appraisal:
A short, but intense read. This story has aspects of a thriller and a
mystery, as well as historical, taking place long enough ago that most readers
(or at least this reader) wasn’t sure what kinds of things we wouldn’t
anticipate today that might have happened in that day and age. All of this
worked to keep me interested and engrossed in the story.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating: ****
Four Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate word count: 9-10,000 words
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