Of Love & Duty: Nelson, the Hamiltons, the Prince & Miss Knight

It is Nelson’s darkest hour. He disobeys orders and sanctions atrocities while entering into the most famous adultery in England’s history. Naples 1798-9 is the one blot on an otherwise glittering career and it has an intimate witness. Cornelia Knight is an English ex-patriot. She is a writer, artist and linguist who has devoted her life to the care of her mother until, at forty-one, she finds love. Prince Francesco Caracciolo is the head of the Neapolitan navy. He is a friend of Sir William Hamilton, the British ambassador, but an old rival of Nelson who is bent on subverting Neapolitan neutrality. When Caracciolo fails to prevent Naples’ slide into war, Cornelia is caught in a web of conflicting loyalties to nation, lover and friends that tests to destruction the contending forces of love and duty.