The Martingale Chronicles: Pt. 1

Based on historical facts this is the story about the life and loves of a young man in the years before and during WW2. James Alexander Young, known as Jay to his family and friends, is from a typical lower middle class English family but unlike most other boys, he has a mother who is half Japanese and it is she who teaches him to disregard race and colour. From early childhood he has a burning ambition to go to sea and with his family making financial sacrifices his dreams start to come true when he is enrolled as a cadet at a Naval College. There he is taught seamanship, navigation and all the other subjects needed to transform reasonably intelligent young men into junior officers. At college he makes many new friends including cadets from Japan and Germany and he discovers that the foreign young men are not so very different from him and his British friends. When war does arrive, he is distressed to find that he is obliged to regard these former friends as enemies and that it is his duty to try and destroy them if he can. Because he can speak Japanese fluently (learned as a young child at the knee of his grandmother) he is recruited by the Navy in the late 1930s to gather intelligence when visiting the Far East and as information is gleaned and assessed, he begins to seriously suspect that a conflict in the Pacific is being deliberately created. During visits to Japan he meets and falls in love with Noriko a beautiful young woman and in mid 1939 they marry. War in Europe finds him serving at sea and facing the real dangers from German U-boats when sailing with North Atlantic convoys and from torpedo aircraft when visiting Russia and he sees first hand the death and terrible destruction caused by these weapons of war. Finally he sails to warmer climes and becomes 1st Lieutenant of a large motor yacht which has been impressed by the Navy to patrol around the coast of Ceylon. They know that the Japanese with their aircraft carriers are nearby and prepare themselves for the inevitable conflict.

About the Author :
After 12 years as an officer in the Merchant Navy and Royal Naval Reserves the Author 'swallowed the anchor' and began a new career in engineering. He is very well travelled and his two careers have taken him to over 40 different countries. Now retired he has turned his talents to writing with this book being his second publication. The Author is married to Keiko and they live in the South of England and he has a son by a previous marriage

Review :
The Martingale Chronicles - part one. This book is a masterful piece of writing by someone who really knows his subject. It is filled with authentic details and written with both humour and gusto. In my opinion, the book is a must for readers who like a good story and are interested in those crucial and dangerous years. --Irene Millar - I have just finished the book and I must say I have very much enjoyed the reading experience overall. --Andrew Choong - Museum Curator. It is very very good. I read a lot of books and many do nothing for me but I really enjoyed reading this book. It is marvellously interesting. -------Jean Williams. Wow! Congratulations. Wonderful...English speaking Japanese Lawyer. This is not a literary masterpiece but it is very readable and thoroughly entertaining.------ P.Campbell-Jones. Very readable and interesting...GP Doctor. Not a word of a lie, I am halfway through it and the truth is I am enjoying every minute. There is nothing negative to say about it...Robert (Commercial artist). I enjoyed your book very much and I did'nt want to put it down. The story progresses very well, held my interest and I was always eager to move along with the story. This story is something entirely different and I know the book will be successful...Tom S, retired Master Printer. I started reading it on a long train journey and it was so interesting and absorbing that I very nearly missed my station...Bill W.