Historical Fiction Author of the Month: Antoine Vanner

Welcome to my Blog Series, Historical Fiction Author of the Month.

Each month, I will showcase a different historical fiction author. Their books will range from romance to mystery and adventure to crime, and will be from many different eras. I hope you discover a new author and their work to enjoy. Happy reading!

In this post, I am delighted to feature author Antoine Vanner.

Antoine Vanner

Antoine Vanner had a long career, mostly at a senior executive level, in one of the world’s largest multinationals. This involved residence and work in eight countries and short assignments in a dozen others. He worked In retirement as a part-time academic in the US, UK, Philippines and Latin America. Life threatening experiences included management in the midst of a vicious terrorist campaign in which business activities, and once himself personally, were targets. Also held on one at knifepoint, beaten with rifle-butts and made a 200-yard sprint under AK-47 fire at the age of 60 (when “retired”), not to mention more mundane risks such as storms at sea and life in the corporate world. He’s had a half-century love affair with Africa, living for a total of a decade in one country there and visiting nine others. In retirement, provided pro-bone advice on certain policy matters to several African leaders. All this was a splendid preparation for writing! Vanner is at home in two languages, competent in a third and very rusty in two more. He now lives in rural Britain with his wife, dog and eight horses (his wife’s main interest). His main interest is, and always has been, history, especially of the 19^th Century.

I’m sure readers are curious to know what enticed you to write in this genre in particular, Antoine?

I became addicted to the novels of C.S. Forester from boyhood – my father introduced me to Hornblower with the Happy Return when I was eleven. I loved Forester’s style and the theme in all his novels (and he covered a huge range outside the Hornblower series) of the Man Alone who must be a leader, carry heavy burdens of responsibility, must take hard decisions when there is nobody to turn to for advice and knows that his superiors will throw him to the dogs if things go badly. I always aspired to write on the same theme. Combining this with my interest in the 19th Century and its vast political, social, scientific, medical and technological advances led to my creation of Nicholas Dawlish, a Royal Navy officer born in 1845 and dying in 1918 who finds himself involved not just in maritime but in political events of his time, many of them obscure. By sheer coincidence, these are mostly set in locales I’m familiar with from personal experience! A surprise for me was that his wife became such a strong character in her own right that she demanded two books in which she would be the protagonist. Linked to real life events also, in these she would find herself in a murky world of corruption, betrayal and espionage. Eleven books so far and a twelfth underway. Free short stories for mailing-list members fill in gaps between novels.

Explore Antoine’s Books

Adventure by land and sea in the Late-Victorian Era.

Battle, intrigue, mystery, loyalty, courage, deception, atrocity, ethical dilemmas . . .

The lives of an ambitious Royal Navy officer and his indomitable wife.