The first book in the Sparrowhawk series of historical novels, introducing readers to life in eighteenth-century England, where rumblings of discontent amongst the citizens with government and Crown begin. Jack Frake is no exception to this endemic restlessness. From an early age, Jack Frake develops an independent mind and spirit, traits that are not openly welcomed by all for someone of his lowly class. Fate and circumstance lead him to join a band of smugglers and he faithfully furthers their cause. Jack eventually departs for the American colonies aboard the Sparrowhawk, destined for Virginia. He sets out to rescue his friend from the constable's jail, but instead of saving his friend, he finds his own life in danger.

Third in the historical fiction series, this episode follows the continuing adventures of Jack Frake and Hugh Kenrick.

"The time is 1766, the Stamp Act has been introduced, and discontent is again running rampant. News of the unrest reaches the British Parliament as merchants successfully plead with the government to repeal the act before the nation is ruined. Although the act is repealed, Parliament is not going to relinquish powers to the colonies that easily, and Jack Frake and Hugh Kenrick are forced to stand up against a new wave of taxes and censorship imposed in the colonies"--Publisher description.

Amid the political upheaval following the French and Indian War, the British government's attempts to tax the American colonies draw both colonist Jack Frake and aristocrat Hugh Kenrick into struggles against tyranny and injustice.

"Hugh is a scion of the British arictocracy. Because his actions and adventures in London earn him the enmity of his uncle, the Earl of Danvers, Hugh is sent to the colonies by his parents for his own safety"--Publisher website (July 2007).

A guide to series fiction lists popular series, identifies novels by character, and offers guidance on the order in which to read unnumbered series.

"In a society like ours there are bound to be disagreements about this and that. It is only natural. But although we may disagree on many things, I think we can all agree on one thing. The nice thing about dead Iraqis is they don't smell." DEAD IRAQIS brings together the best short fiction of one of Britain's leading underground writers. Written against the grain of commercial literary fiction, these stories from the era of neo-liberalism are often darkly comic in thrust, with a strong historical or political dimension. Emily Brontë runs off to Nicaragua and starts a new life as a guerrilla. Stalin fakes his death and becomes a Conservative MP. Karl Marx is discovered alive and well and living on the Isle of Wight. Using a range of techniques from collage to surreal satire, Sharp savages the values and delusions of the age, mocking everything from crop circles to political biography and imperialism. But Sharp is also a writer acutely conscious of literary tradition. Informed by influences as various as Swift, Gogol, Proust and Joyce, these fictions engage with language and the nature of narrative as they explore history, story-telling, memory, philosophy and the monstrous temper of an age steeped in blood."Sharp targets the deadly absurdities and frustrations of our civilisation." Ken MacLeod"Ellis Sharp writes fiction unlike any other writer I have encountered to date ... his books are jam-packed with wondrous things." Lee Rourke"Ferociously brilliant." Iain Banks"Ellis Sharp is an outstanding rebuke to all those who think political fiction means drab and po-faced fiction. Who says it can't be surreal, enraged and utterly invigorating?" China Miéville