From the smoke and terror of the gun deck, to storms that wreck fleets, to the hidden chambers of Naval Intelligence, Pallamaglio follows Scott and Tom as they wrestle with betrayal, survival, and the perilous weight of truth. Along the way: a sealed folder hinting at Tom’s secret parentage, a desperate carriage race though London’s fog and fireworks, a shocking funeral where sailors tear the flag from Nelson’s coffin.
At the centre of the story lies the ancient game of pallamaglio - played on the banks of the Thames at Greenwich naval hospital - raucous laughter echoing among the maimed, scarred and broken veterans. All defiantly human in the shadow of war.
Pallamaglio is a novel about how myths are forged - and who pays the price for them. It asks: what survives when lies become legend, and deceit turns into myth.
For readers of Hilary Mantel, Maggie O’Farrell, and Patrick O’Brian, this is a story of war and memory, love and betrayal, played out on the decks of the greatest battle of the age - and in the stark choices of those history almost forgot.
rae@rae-campbell.com
Pallamaglio by Rae Campbell
Autumn 1805. The fate of nations hangs on the dramatic battle at Trafalgar. But Pallamaglio is not another tale of admirals and fleets. It is the story of the people swept up into a chaotic orbit: a chaplain, a foundling boy, and the most celebrated naval hero of them all, Horatio Nelson.
Scott is Nelson’s chaplain, a scholar and priest pressed into espionage by the Admiralty. Ordered to spy on his closest friend - driven by Admiralty fears that Nelson, reckless in war, life and love, might lead the fleet to destruction. For Scott, loyalty curdles into shame. He is forced to betray his one true friend and conceal his own dark sins.
Tom is a foundling and a savant - blunt, unguarded, forever out of step. He cannot read or write, but patterns and memories never slip away. His oddities make him a target for cruelty. Yet he is also the boy most able to carry secrets which might shape Europe’s future. Half-blinded, bullied, resilient, he becomes the novel’s truth-teller - seeing through lies that grown men prefer to believe.
And Nelson - adored by the crowds - but vain, reckless, and scandalous. Brilliant in flashes, frail in private, transformed in death into the legend the nation demanded - his fatal flaws submerged with his corpse in a cask of brandy.