Sea-Hawk

Rafael Sabatini was born in Jesi, Italy in 1875 to an English mother and Italian father, both renowned opera singers. At a young age, Rafael travelled frequently, and could speak six languages fluently by the age of seventeen. After a brief stint in the business world, Sabatini turned to writing. He worked prolifically, writing short stories in the 1890s, with his first novel published in 1902. Scaramouche was published in 1921 to widespread acclaim, and was soon followed by the equally succesful Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk. He died on February 13, 1950 in Switzerland.

"Sabatini's stories abound with drama and melodrama, action and excitement and brilliant colour, as well as minute period detail. No writer, not Scott, nor Dumas, nor Stevenson, has brought the past to life more vividly or accurately ... He is to be learned from by any who seek instruction in the craft of writing or the matter of history. This century has seen no greater expert in the two combined." -- George McDonald Fraser "One wonders if there is another storyteller so adroit at filling his pages with intrigue and counter-intrigue, with danger threaded with romance, with a background of lavish colour, of silks and velvets, of swords and jewels" Daily Telegraph "A gadzooks romance with a generous measure of blood, revenge, sacrifice, villainy, adventure, and heart-interest" The Nation