by Justin Fox
First published 2021
Jack Pembroke watches his ship go down at Dunkirk, another casualty of a war that seems determined to break him. The young naval officer recovers in London only to learn his mother has died in the Blitz. His admiral father summons him to Cape Town, where South Africa's small navy prepares for German raiders heading toward the South Atlantic. Jack takes command of a minesweeping flotilla crewed by South Africans who resent their new British captain. He must forge this reluctant group into a fighting force while battling his own trauma and his father's expectations. A Nazi commerce raider disguised as a merchant vessel sails from Germany toward the Cape, planning to destroy Allied shipping lanes. Jack and his makeshift crew will face this deadly warship in the frigid waters off Africa's southern coast. The confrontation will test everything Jack has learned about leadership, survival, and finding purpose after devastating loss.
Genres: historical-fiction, military-fiction, adventure, action
Vibes: emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Dunkirk, London, Cape Town, South Atlantic
Period: World War II
341 pages · Kindle Edition · Penguin Books (South Africa)