A Romance of the West Indies

In the heat of the Caribbean’s 1690 conflict, the schooner Unicorn slips from Rochelle toward the volcanic island of Martinique, carrying a handful of passengers whose lives are entwined with war, piracy and colonial intrigue. Among them is Father Griffen, a preacher whose duties stretch far beyond the pulpit as he navigates a world where English privateers and Spanish marauders loom on the horizon.

Griffen is a man of many talents—former professor of geometry, skilled carpenter, diligent gardener, and a natural leader in the colony’s defensive works. Though his sermons are blunt and his jokes about women mischievously sharp, his heart beats with genuine charity, and he stands at the front of every raid to shield his flock, tending to wounded foes as readily as to his own people.

The narrative follows his tempest‑tossed journey from the ship’s deck to the isolated priest’s house, where danger and humor collide, promising a vivid portrait of courage, faith, and the restless spirit of the West Indies.