Frederick Harris has come home with promotion, prize money and a future at last. The Admiralty is about to put all three at risk.

After years of prize-taking in the West Indies, Frederick is newly promoted to post captain, newly married and wealthy enough to imagine a life beyond the quarterdeck.

Then comes a dangerous new command.

Aboard the frigate Carthage, Frederick is sent south of Madeira to intercept Dutch East Indiamen before their riches fall into French hands. But the mission quickly becomes more dangerous than expected. A troublesome crewman, political consequences reaching far beyond the ship, and a heavily armed Dutch warship force Frederick to prove that courage alone is not enough.

And when tragedy strikes at home, the life he has built on land is changed forever.

The Bitter Land is the second novel in Andrew Wareham’s Duty and Destiny series — a gripping tale of naval warfare, ambition, fortune and duty in the age of sail.