A Tainted Dawn

by B. N. Peacock

[elysium]

The book starts with brief encounter of 3 boys: Edward; son of a Navy Captain, Louis; son of a French tailor and Jemmy; son of a carpenter who works as a fiddler. The boys’s lives will intervene later on The Caribbean after all of their lives has changed.

The book is told from the point of view of the 3 boys. My favourite was Edward’s story at a ship his grandfather dropped off. I liked to read about the life at the sea and men there. I didn’t however particularly like Louis so I found his chapters to be most boring ones. At the beginning Louis and Edward meet ends up fighting and Louis hates Edward for the rest of his life. I didn’t see the reason for such hate and it was the only thing besides revolutionary thoughts that drove him.
Jemmy was much more sympathetic character. A poor boy with a drunken father trying to get on with life.

There was some slow going paces but overall it was enjoyable. I liked the to read about the life at the sea most and it was fascinating reading about the relationship between the shipmates.