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David Donachie was born in 1944, in Edinburgh; Scotland. His father served in the Royal Airforce, which gave him the chance to get decent schooling. David left school at an early teenage of 14 years out of sheer boredom. Despite his loathe for school, David Donachie relished history, but before he could pen his first book he took on several odd jobs like truck driving, ice cream vending, salesmanship, and theater jobs among others, to survive. Some of his most exciting odd job moments were painting Sean Connery’s mom’s condo, which pricked his ambition to do something special.
Working in the theater alongside Laurence Olivier, Peter Ustinov, Alec Guinness, and Rudolf among dozens of other recognized names worldwide made him even more excited. David also made money selling ice cream as bands such as the renowned Who Cream and The Stones Band, entertained lovers at the Roundhouse in London. David made lots of money at a famously loved gig, `Oh Calcutta’. David Donachie became a writer after trying everything else and it didn’t work. His first novel came by accident. He wrote a radio play for a competition ran by BBC, and six weeks later, he worked out a novel that offered £3000 from a renowned publisher. He turned down the offer as advised by an agent and instead sent the novel to all London Publishers who declined to take it up.
The book was never published. He has since worked with four publishers. His love for History makes him research for little-known facts and blending them with a twist of crime to make for juicy naval fiction stories. It worked well with his Privateers men Mystery books. With Nelson, the tale involved a revealing man perceived as a worldly saint – he was a hero, his demeanor was incredible but he was far from perfect. John Pearce; on the other hand, depicts a pressed sailor who thrives despite his lack of interest in a naval career and an awfully bad leader.
John Pierce
A Shot Rolling Ship is the second edition of the John Pierce series. In the Shot Rolling Ship, Pierce finds himself in the King George Navy once again, twice in the same month. Pearce and his soldiers find themselves aboard the HMS Brazen, sailing from Plymouth to Dover in search of French ships, which prowl on English merchant ships: her task is to stop, capture or destroy them. Pearce however, must rescue his sick father from the prevailing revolution in Paris. He is faced with a quagmire; to leave the ship and go to his ailing father, or stay and perform his naval duties. In his attempt to escape from the ship, Pearce tries mutiny, but Captain Colbourne applies his hunch skills and quickly promotes Pearce to a Mid-ship man. Thereby freeing Pearce to abscond the ship –which appears to the crew left behind as though their trusted leader has forsaken them.
In the third Installment of this chilling thriller, An Awkward Commission, John Pearce is stranded in Portsmouth and has once more failed to safely see to it that those who relied upon on him – his associate Pelicans have been released. Pearce indulges in London as his Pelicans get shipped far off, to the Mediterranean Sea. So he quickly takes another ship to follow them. His request to William Pitt for a secure place aboard the HMS Victory makes him the 8th lieutenant under the Captainship of Admiral Lord Hood. His pelican sailing South ahead of him, serving under a whipping captain, but that doesn’t seem to faze them out at all as each member of the crew gets quite devious to promote themselves. O’Hagan struggles to set up his position in the hierarchy below the decks; Taverner formulates a plan on a specialty niche appropriate for his trickery to work in the interests of the gang ; Gerson isn’t overly ambitious and finds himself as Rear Admiral Ralph Barclay’s secretary.
As the ship sails towards the French Mediterranean’s main port of Toulon, tension among captains and crews builds up. The tension eventually comes to an outstanding lead when the HMS Brilliant is disconnected from the fleet under orders of Captain Horatio Nelson, with its destination now changed to North Africa. The fourth riveting Installment in the John Pearce book series is titled, A Flag of Truce. In this installment, Pearce travels back from Corsica challenging that the HMS Brilliant’s Captain Barclay, the man who initially pushed him and his associate Pelicans into the Navy, be tried and condemned at home by a local court.
Against the backdrop of the current blockade of Toulon and with the radical Army planning to attack, no one in power feels this as the right time to assent to his requests. Barclay’s ally Admiral Hotham schemes a way out of the ensuing predicament. He steers the ship that was captured in Corsica by Pearce with members of the avant-garde Navy refusing to serve under the current Bourbon flag and hands over to Henry Digby, with Pearce in charge of his loyal Pelicans so that they may collectively ferry the traitor French sailors to an Atlantic seaport and later liberate them. Whilst Pearce is away, Hotham fixes a court hearing where Barclay is found not guilty for lack of substantial evidence, a scam that leads to an open infringement with his wife Emily.
Pearce finally arrives at the siege barely surviving the conflict on both land and the open seas only to find Barclay exonerated and free from further court arraignments on double jeopardy laws. Ignoring clear warnings not to get involved with Emma Barclay, Pearce begins a romance with her. Meanwhile, turmoil surrounds the removal of Toulon and the radical forces together with Napoleon Bonaparte are closing in to reclaim the port.Book lovers complained at the premature end of the series, but David says that publishing is a business and as such; is subjected to changing opinions. Besides, writers do move on.
The John Pearce fiction series has a total of 12 books. David admitted that his writing ideas are quite random; they range from conversations with people, tips from the media or flash inspirations that occur from time to time. With that said, this is a well-developed book series, which will undoubtedly leave you the reader glued to your seat.
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2 Responses to “David Donachie”
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Any issues with the book list you are seeing? Or is there an author or series we don’t have? Let me know!
Hi David, just catching up with you. Thankyou for your advise on Charlie Tavanah. (Charlie Tavener). I did get in touch, and was used and abused as per normal. As far as i know his Mother has died and he is not in very good health, to say the least. good to see you continuing to write. What on EARTH were we doing wasting our time at the “COLI”. Would love to meet up with you if you have a moment, just to explain about Charlie T. Please give my regards to Sarah. Barry.
How did Charlie Tavanah get to Deal? Will there be additional John Pierce books that explain this?