Parley with the Devil
Kevin Butler
Published by Kebu Trading (March 2011)
Parley with the Devil
Kevin Butler
Published by Kebu Trading (March 2011)
In a dingy stone fort, on a remote stretch of coastline on the West African coast, slumped on a hard, wooden bunk in a dark steamy cell languishes the only white slave in the fortress. He struggles to come to terms with his ominous circumstances but manages by devious means to effect an escape down-river in a flimsy coracle.
Private James Bradley’s adventures incorporate Dick King's heroic ride from Port Natal to Grahamstown for reinforcements to relieve besieged British forces, the 8th Frontier War and the tragic sinking of the troopship HMS Birkenhead off the Cape coast.
There also lurks a sinister villain who, behind the scenes, is responsible for his abduction into slavery and incarceration on the remote west African coast .
The saga is loaded with drama and intrigue. It is written in short, non-sequential chapters and moves at a pace to maintain the reader’s interest. The start of each chapter is visually enhanced with an illustration of historical relevance.
This is an adventure novel interwoven with 19thC colonial South African history. It covers the story of a naive young lad from poverty-deprived Ireland, who enlists in the British cavalry, circa 1840, and unfolds against a background of real historical events during that Victorian era and includes a romance in Bathurst.
Parley with the Devil covers an absorbing segment of this country's early history, including Dick King's heroic ride to relieve the besieged British troops in Natal, the Convict Crisis, and the tragic sinking of the Birkenhead off the Hermanus coast in 1852.
The 280-page book, which has now passed the 1 000 copies sold mark, retails for R150 in leading book stores
It contains many attractive historical illustrations, most from the national archives, and several maps as a guide to key historical events.
