On a Making Tide chronicles the fascinating early years of Horatio Nelson and Emma Lyon. Both determined to rise from obscurity, they set about making their ways through the world with corresponding recklessness and precocious ambition. Nelson enters the Royal Navy at the ae of twelve and is made a post captain at the age of 20 – his reputation as a daring yet benevolent officer secured in the American War of Independence. Emma, luscious but penniless, cannily confronts her limited prospects to rise through the social ranks from teenaged bawd to nobleman's courtesan to celebrated artist's model. This novel offers authentic sea actiona dn a rare peek into London's demimonde, whree the lives of a beautiful courtesan and Britain's greatest naval hero collide.