Honour Redeemed — David Donachie

The second volume in the Markham of the Marines trilogy

With his fiery Irish blood and well-known reputation for trouble, Lieutenant George Markham leads his embattled Royal Marines against the French in Corsica. His mission: to seize the island. His problem: not just the French, but also spies, traitors, and jealous rivals -- including jealous husbands. As the bastard son of a Catholic father and a Protestant mother, Markham has a lot to prove. But as a scarred veteran of the war in America and against the French, Markham is battle-hardened in a way too many of his senior officers aren't. His hardness wins over his men, and with their help Markham ventures across the island to persuade the veteran war hero Pasquali Paoli to unite the Corsicans behind him. But their loyalty remains torn by a heritage of vendettas, French bribery, and crossing and double-crossing. Enemies abound, in both French blue and British red, and the only men Markham can rely on are the grim, taciturn Sergeant Rannoch and a man who owes Markham his life: Bellamy, the educated, Black Marine. Brimming with violent action and an energetic, pulsating plot, Honour Redeemed is a worthy successor to A Shred of Honour in the gripping Markham of the Marines series.