Bolitho’s World
Alexander Kent at the time of the launch of the Richard Bolitho series with the publication of To Glory We Steer in 1968.
WHEN DOUGLAS REEMAN decided to write a naval fiction series set during Nelson’s time in the Age of Sail, he had been smitten with England’s ‘wooden walls’ since he was a boy, visiting HMS Victory in Portsmouth with his grandfather.
The first Richard Bolitho story, To Glory We Steer, was published in 1968 under the pen name Alexander Kent. The author’s protagonist in this debut novel was Captain Richard Bolitho of the British frigate Phalarope. Over the next four decades, Kent chronicled the life and times of Bolitho, from midshipman to admiral. The saga continues with the life and times of Adam Bolitho, Richard’s nephew.
Chronologically, the series begins with Midshipman Bolitho, a compendium of three original novels: Richard Bolitho — Midshipman, Midshipman Bolitho and the ‘Avenger’, and Band of Brothers. Readers are introduced to Bolitho’s Cornwall and the ‘big grey house’ in these pages. Later, as young Richard’s career flourishes, Georgian Portsmouth and London appear within the books’ pages.
This section is dedicated to many of these places: Cornwall, Portsmouth Royal Dockyard and London.