The limited edition run of this title has sold out apart from a number of copies we reserved for limited edition sets but we recently discovered a number of unread printer’s proof copies at our printers. If you missed The Hawk the first time round, we now have a few copies available to buy again.
Harry Carey is a young naval officer aboard one of his father, the Earl of Aubigny’s merchant ships running between London and Santander during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Relations with Spain are tense and Harry finds himself called on first to save the ship from seizure by the Spanish authorities, and later to help scupper a Catholic plot to assassinate the Queen. A thrilling story which moves between the tough existence of an Elizabethan merchant ship and the elegant but dangerous life at Court.
About Ronald Welch and the Carey Novels
Ronald Welch’s Carey novels, written between 1954 and 1972, follow the fortunes of the same family from their involvement in the Crusades to their service in the First World War. Grippingly plotted and scrupulously researched, together they join up the dots of English history in a remarkably vivid and human way.
Welch was a historian who served as a Tank Corps officer in the Second World War and in 1947 became Headmaster of Okehampton Grammar School in Devon. He was, by all accounts, an inspiring teacher, and he certainly knew how to bring history alive for younger readers. You can’t finish a Welch book without having grasped such precise details as the construction of a crusader’s armour and why it was so designed, or why the longbow was crucial to the English victory at the Battle of Crécy. Most importantly they’re brilliant reads – fast-paced, colourful and imaginative, with entirely believable central characters. The Careys are a distinguished Welsh landowning family and are involved in all the great events of their times, from the plots against Elizabeth I and the Civil War to the Peninsular War, the Crimea and the Indian Mutiny.
The original editions, published by Oxford University Press and illustrated by some of the best book illustrators of their day, are now almost impossible to find and fetch prohibitive prices. We’re delighted to make these wonderful books available again, with their original illustrations, in an elegantly designed and highly collectable series.
‘Think Robin Hood meets Bernard Cornwell’ Historical Novel Society
‘These new editions are exquisite . . .’
‘I just wanted to let you know how thrilled I was to receive my set of Ronald Welch books earlier this week. These new editions are exquisite – simply wonderful to hold, feel, smell and browse...
Read moreWinning Their Spurs
I never read Ronald Welch as a child – he was writing a bit too late for me – but his historical adventure stories have a very familiar ring. In Bowman of Crécy and The Hawk I recognized with...
Read more‘I was pleased and amazed . . .’
‘I was pleased and amazed to see you are publishing the Ronald Welch books. As a child I adored them and they infused in me a great love of history . . . Over the years I have collected most of his...
Read moreFor readers ‘who, like me, enjoy historical battles and will treasure these books . . . ’
‘The book Knight Crusader by Ronald Welch tells the story of a young Squire called Philip who (later on in the book) becomes a knight . . .’
Read moreWolf Hall for kids: Why Ronald Welch’s novels will help your children fall in love with history
Ronald Welch, a tank commander turned schoolmaster, is one of the 20th century’s most underrated children’s writers. Like Hilary Mantel, he understood that what makes a lost epoch stick in your...
Read more
The Hawk is a rattling good adventure story with never a dull moment. There are cowardly attacks against our hero, treacherous plots where Harry proves his mettle, and some splendid sea battles, enhanced by yells of: ‘Haul home the foremast!’ and, ‘Let go the sheets and tacks!’ I’ve only the foggiest idea what they mean but no matter – it all adds to the heart-pumping pace. And I love Gareth Floyd’s lively atmospheric illustrations of ships engaging in battle and men riding furiously.
Boys (and girls) of eight plus who enjoy rip-roaring adventures should enjoy The Hawk, and they’ll learn a lot, too, about life in Elizabethan London, conditions on board a galleon, and about the murky politics of an age where the queen was considered fair game for the assassin’s bullet.