The William Kite Naval Adventures

The William Kite Naval Adventures follow a fugitive who enters the Atlantic slave trade and gradually becomes a Liverpool shipowner, surgeon and fighting seaman. His voyages carry him between West Africa, the Caribbean, Britain and the Indian Ocean during the Seven Years’ War and the American Revolutionary War.

The trilogy combines naval action with commerce, privateering and the human costs of imperial trade. Kite’s attempts to secure respectability and financial independence are repeatedly disrupted by war, personal loss and the moral compromises embedded in the ships from which he profits.