'Mr. Timms's spirited historical romance deals with that period in the second half of the seventeenth century when Louis XIV, of France, was doing his utmost by dint of proffered bribes and promises to persuade his cousin of England, King Charles II, to proclaim his country's conversion to the Catholic Faith, and, what was even more important, to embroil his country with Holland, and thereby give Louis a better opportunity to proceed with his projects against Spain, and towards his own ultimate aggrandisement as the virtual Dictator of Europe. Against this deep-laid scheme for the betrayal of England, Sir William Somerset, known among his intimates as 'The Falcon,' a semi-piratical seafarer of high courage and determination, his beautiful young wife, Anne, the Earl of Wendale, and various other patriotic Englishmen and women are involved. The story runs a vapid and exciting course, which ends in the complete discomfiture of Louis and his chief emissary in England, the dissolute Chevalier de Toqueville, and the happy reunion of Sir William and his wife after their temporary parting and estrangement owing to a misunderstanding. The character of Charles II, Buckingham, Rochester, Falmouth, and other members of the Court circle are well drawn, and the dialogue throughout is natural and unstrained.'
Source:
'Some Recent Fiction', The West Australian, 6 June 1931, p.4.
