In this, Nicholas Monsarrat's masterpiece, Lawe represents the spirit of maritime exploration and fortitude; his life is the thread stringing together a long history of nautical adventure. Written in two volumes, the first of which appeared in 1978, the story encompasses the full extent of maritime development, beginning with Sir Francis Drake abandoning a game of bowls to fight the great crescent of the Spanish fleet, to the opening in 1960 of the...

Ambrose Ashley, Philip's cousin, guardian and god, married Rachel in Italy, and died there. Jealous of his marriage and grief-stricken by his death, Philip prepares to meet his cousin's widow with hatred in his heart.

As a young man, Roald Dahl's adventures took him from London to East Africa, until the Second World War began and he became an RAF pilot. In 'Going Solo', you'll read stories of whizzing through the air in a Tiger Moth plane, encounters with deadly green mambas and hungry lions, and the terrible crash that led him to storytelling.