Born in the town of Nantwich, Cheshire, the author has lived most of his life in the city of Wrexham, North Wales. He was educated at the Wrexham Technical College, and his working life involved chemical engineering construction and then aircraft manufacturing.
From the age of seventeen onward, he has had a lifetime of interest in the sport of fencing, taking part in competitions from a teenager to the age of sixty. He has spent many years on the organisation side of the sport, serving as Chairman of the Chester Fencing Club and Competition Secretary of the Cheshire Schools Fencing Association.
Now in retirement, he follows a much gentler hobby: Secretary of the Garden Village Fête Committee, involved in the running of the local fête.
It is in Paris during France’s pre-revolutionary Ancien Régime when gambler, socialite and renowned swordsman Napier Gerrard enjoys a life of luxury and leisure. However, his comfortable lifestyle is blighted by the troubled memory of a double murder when, as a teenager, he lived in England with his father, a fencing master to a Royal Duke. Worse still, he was falsely accused of the crimes and only escaped with his life by fleeing back to his native France.Napier, knowing that he will never obtain peace of mind until he has done what he considers to be the right thing by his father’s memory, makes the momentous decision to return to England in search of his father’s resting place. He is aware that, with a large bounty on his head, he could expect betrayal at any time.Once in England, fate intervenes to keep Napier in danger as a series of events come together to set him on a course that will test his swordsmanship and survival instincts to their very limits.
Renowned fencing master Napier Gerard has been enjoying an opulent existence amidst the gaming clubs and coffee houses of late 18th‑century Paris, but this is about to change. Exiled from his native England and isolated by his reputation as a deadly duellist, he finds himself increasingly threatened by powerful enemies on both sides of the Channel. At the same time, the threat of terror and revolution is looming over France. It becomes clear to Napier that, to survive, he must flee to the American colonies.
However, fate disrupts Napier’s plans, thrusting him into a series of perilous adventures. While he has the good fortune to be accompanied by the steadfast Will Styles, whose skill with a bow matches Napier’s with a sword, his ingenuity and courage are tested to their limits as he and Will navigate the dangers of the American wilderness. Napier soon finds himself unwillingly entangled in a colonial war, struggling not only against wild animals but also involved in battles that he never sought. Unbeknownst to him, his decision to escape France will lead him repeatedly to confront death itself.
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