Douglas Reeman Biography

British writer and former naval officer, born in Thames Ditton, Surrey. His first book, A Prayer for the Ship (1972), was set in the navy during the Second World War. As Alexander Kent he writes historical novels, set at the time of the Napoleonic wars, about the life and career of a young naval officer, Richard Bolitho, following his rise from Midshipman to Admiral. The first of these many novels was To Glory We Steer (1974); more recently he has published Beyond the Reef (1992) and The Darkening Sea (1993). In each of his books he displays his understanding of the realities of life in the eighteenth-century navy and his ability to convey an exciting and absorbing story. His other novels, many with a Second World War setting, include The Torpedo Run (1981), Badge of Glory (1982), The Iron Pirate (1986), In Danger's Hour (1988), The White Guns (1989), and Killing Ground (1991).