A Darker Sea: Master Commandant Putnam and the War of 1812

October 1, 2017
After bringing his hero, Blivet Putnam, home to Connecticut following his navy career's first action (The Shores of Tripoli, 2016, etc.), Haley promotes him to master commandant to captain the USS Tempest and fight the War of 1812.Haley is an erudite historian who can craft fiction so real that you're ready to pull the grapeshot-packed 18-pounder's lanyard and sweep the HMS Java's quarterdeck and kill a nefarious English lord. The plot's simple--Putnam sails into harm's way and has the Tempest shot from under him but later exacts professional--and personal--revenge while serving aboard the USS Constitution. All the while, Haley details extended battle scenes (warfare injuries in the days of wooden ships were particularly gruesome); examines the disparities in the ugly practices of English and American slavery; analyzes the involuntary servitude of impressment by chronicling Putnam's rescue of his old friend and shipmate Sam Bandy from the HMS Hound; and provides insight into how those iron men constructed (live oak timber a necessity) and sailed those wooden ships. With the U.S. Navy then furloughing officers at partial pay when they weren't needed, Putnam returned to Connecticut after Tripoli and the Barbary Pirates to marry Clarity Marsh. That caused tongues to wag as the Marshes were high-society, moneyed folk, but Putnam went on to help his elderly parents re-establish the Putnam farm in good order. Then Putnam's called up again, goes to Washington for orders, and from there sets off on a fast-paced Caribbean seafaring narrative filled with empathetic fictional characters. The story also brings in real-life historical figures, like James and Dolley Madison, or names to be reckoned with later, like a precocious girl named Harriet Beecher.Another real-enough-to-be-true, rollicking tale from the days of sail and sword.

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October 15, 2017
In his previous novel, The Shores of Tripoli (2016), award-winning historian Haley launched a new seafaring series featuring American naval officer Bliven Putnam who, in his first adventure, garners widespread adulation back in the States for vanquishing Barbary pirates on the Mediterranean high seas. As Putnam's saga continues, the local hero has been enjoying a well-earned shore leave at his family's farm in Connecticut, when he is summoned by his superiors to meet with President James Madison at the newly constructed White House. In addition to authorizing the lieutenant's promotion to commanding his own vessel, The Tempest, Madison hopes Putnam's battleship-savvy will be invaluable in a brewing war with the British, whose far superior fleet has been raiding American merchant ships. When his frigate is seized by a British warship, Putnam quickly discovers his old friend and previously kidnapped shipmate Sam Bandy already aboard, and together the pair plan a risky mutiny. Haley's enthralling blend of well-drawn characters, nautical combat, and period detail will appeal to both Patrick O'Brian and American-history enthusiasts.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)