In March 1771, on a windy, rain-swept afternoon, twelve-year-old Horatio Nelson arrives at the Royal Navy dockyard at Chatham. Small for his age, he has traveled alone by coach from London after parting company with his father, the parson of Burnham Thorpe in Norfolk. The lad has come to join his first ship, the 64-gun Raisonnable, as a midshipman, launching what will become a legendary naval career.

At the same time, young Emma Lyon becomes the subject of a deal: her mother’s “services” as a kept mistress in London in return for Emma’s education. Pretty, wayward, high-spirited, and determined to make something of her life, Emma gives up the constraints of life as a domestic servant to live in a bawdy.

David Donachie’s captivating novel, steeped in vivid historical detail, follows Nelson from his trials in a midshipman’s berth to promotion as a lieutenant and to frustration as a post captain at age twenty aboard his first commands. During the American Revolution, he establishes a reputation as a daring, compassionate officer. Meanwhile, Emma, a striking but destitute figure, shrewdly confronts her limited prospects to ascend the social ranks from teenage bawd to nobleman’s courtesan to celebrated artist’s model.

On a Making Tide—Part One of the Nelson Trilogy—chronicles Nelson’s and Emma’s formative years as they defy tradition and expectations. The Georgian era comes vividly to life with thrilling sea action and a rare glimpse into London’s demimonde, where the lives of a beautiful courtesan and Britain’s greatest naval hero unexpectedly collide, sparking a chain of events that will shape their futures.