THE DANGEROUS YEARS by Hennessy, Max .(Pseudonym of John Harris)

New York, 1978, Atheneum, first US edition, hard bound in dust jacket, . fine/fine condition 292 pages. Second in trilogy about Royal Naval Officer Kelly Maquire. ........................................................................ The second volume in a trilogy that has been compared triumphantly to the saga of Horatio Hornblower, The Dangerous Years continues the British naval adventures of Lt. Kelly "Ginger" Maguire, an Anglo-Irishman of extraordinary courage and resourcefulness first introduced to readers in The Lion at Sea.It is 1918, and World War I is just over, but the years now are no less dangerous for all that. At home, the Navy is bounced about like a political football by the government and discontent and frustration run high. Abroad, Greeks and Turks grip each other's throats, White Russians battle for survival against the Bolsheviks, and a man named Chiang Kai-shek rises out of the mountains to lead the Chinese to rebellion.Kelly Maguire, seasoned now, and wearing the pink scar over his eye that is his legacy from Jutland, pitches into the thick of it, staging rescue missions, quelling mutinies, outwitting marauders, even learning to fly as war clouds gather again over Europe in the Thirties-but the danger does not end there. For Kelly is in emotional peril as well. For the first time, he finds himself in danger of losing Charlotte Upfold, the one he loves, and to none other than his arch-rival of many years. And he himself may succumb to the beautiful enticements of a scheming lord's daughter. The passage of arms can be braved -but can Kelly survive the bewitching arms of a not-so-grieving widow?Told with fire and dash, The Dangerous Years is a superb tale of adventure and romance set in the grand sweep of history.Max Hennessy is a pseudonym for John Harris