Rafael Sabatini

The Sea-Hawk Rafael Sabatini

Sir Oliver Tessilian, a Cornish nobleman, is abandoned or betrayed by everyone he ever loved. He is framed for murder, affronted and shunned by his fiance and sold into slavery by his half brother. Tessilian converts to Islam and becomes the Barbary Corsair, Sakr-el-Bahr, “Hawk of the Seaâ€Â. He invades the coast of England on a captured Spanish ship and kidnaps the woman whose love for him had been poisoned by deceit and whose unforgiving repugnance had kept him from returning home. This 1923 best-seller, doused with pirates, sea battles, villainy, romance and revenge, is considered one of the great classic swashbucklers of all time.