Set in 1803 as the Peace of Amiens collapses, Ramage's Devil opens with Nicholas Ramage and his new wife Sarah on honeymoon in France. The renewal of war transforms them almost instantly from visitors into enemy subjects, leaving the couple trapped on hostile soil while Napoleon's police tighten their control over British nationals.
Ramage has no ship, crew or formal command to rely on. Escape instead depends on disguise, speed and the ability to read a political situation changing by the hour. Pope uses the sudden resumption of hostilities to show how an international treaty's failure could alter private lives before fleets had time to sail. The story mixes espionage and pursuit with the wider strategic crisis of 1803, when Britain returned to war and fears of French invasion again became immediate.
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