The
third book in the Cutler
Family Chronicles opens with a brutal pirate attack on the Mary
Beth off the coast of Cuba in 1797. Combined with the prologue
it sets the historical stage to providesreaders with the background for
what
becomes America’s Quasi-war with France in the last decade of the
eighteenth
century. The real story begins with chapter two, which recounts the
arrival of
the long-awaited schooner that returns employees of Cutler & Sons
and Caleb
Cutler, one of the sons, home to Massachusetts after a decade of
captivity. On
hand to greet his brother is Richard Cutler, who has been invited to
meet with
Captain Thomas Truxton to discuss a possible commission aboard one of
the new
naval frigates, the USS Constellation.
Joining the navy and the mercantile ties his family has in the
Caribbean make
Richard an ideal candidate for a secret mission that brings him
face-to-face
with Toussaint L’Ouverture, who seeks to gain freedom for Haiti from
France.
Hammond populates his series
with historic personages and deftly weaves the history of America’s
early navy
and the fledgling nation into the story. Even though this is the third
title in
the Cutler Family Chronicles, it easily works as a standalone title.
Although
rife with nautical language, he expertly provides definitions and
descriptions
in such a way that readers comprehend what’s what without having these
intrude
into the story. If further information is needed, though, he also
includes a
glossary at the end of the book. At times his command of language is
such that
his sentences have a poetical flare that provides vivid imagery that
remains
with the reader long after the story ends.
With
the skill of a master storyteller, Hammond spins
a gripping tale with language that captivates the reader, drawing
him/her
deeper and deeper into the tale until he/she visits with the residents
of
Hingham, Massachusetts where the Cutlers live or walks the rolling
decks of the Constellation as she sails the open
sea. Readers will hold their breath and feel the rapid beating of their
hearts,
along with Richard and his fellow crewmembers, as a French privateer
captures
his sloop or the Constellation
battles the enemy. Hammond whisks readers back in time on a voyage that
takes
them from Boston to Baltimore to Port Royal to Saint Kitts to
Saint-Domingue to
Barbados to the French West Indies. The
Power & the Glory paints a dramatic portrait of an
oft-neglected period
in American history that won’t soon be forgotten.
Review Copyrighted ©2012
Cindy
Vallar
Pirates
and Privateers
