The South of France

The sequel 'The Surge of The Sea' opens with Aspatria discharging cargo in the port of Marseille.

Marseille has changed in the last 80 years and many of the commercial ship repair facilities and yards have switched to becoming repair stops for luxury yachts.

I was there recently and it was very cold I can tell you. Despite beautiful blue skies, temperatures hovered around freezing point and there was ice on the deck. The 'Mistral' wind whistled across the open spaces of the port and left white horses on the sea outside the breakwater. The wind chill made it seem even colder than it was.

Just as well Mallory was there later in the season !!

The Surge of The Sea - New Book and Sequel

Work on the sequel to 'The Pull of The Tide' has fared rather better than expected and the Kindle edition will be available earlier. It was originally scheduled for April 2013.

'The Surge of The Sea' is set in the Mediterranean nearly a year after the first novel. The book opens in Marseille, France and "Slammer" Jenkins is celebrating his 18th birthday. The crew decide to give him a rather unusual present and it's not long before their collective nose for trouble has got them involved in an international scandal of potentially gigantic proportions.

The second book still revolves around the dysfunctional crew of the tramp ship Aspatria and their long-suffering captain, but the plot is slightly darker and more sinister as they grow closer to the start of the Second World War.

Although 'The Surge of The Sea' could be read as your first Mallory book, it is recommended that 'The Pull of The Tide' is read first as the stories are very intertwined.

The second novel also has more adult content and reader discretion is advised.