Autumn '42, and the "special relationship" created by Churchill and President Roosevelt has been in existence for six months. Now FDR wants to invade France, to take the pressure off embattled Russia. Churchill thinks this will be a disaster for the British Army, which will field most of the invasion force, and suggests sending an all-American convoy to Russia bearing arms to support the hard-pressed Soviet Union. Now the action centers on a minesweeper - the Black Swan - skippered by a broken-down, drunken RN officer, Scottish Lt Commander Donaldson. He and his untrained crew do their best to help their new US allies, but will this be enough to ensure that the fleet reaches the Russian port of Murmansk intact? And will the "special relationship" survive the outcome of this mission? Duncan Harding is a pseudonym for Charles Whiting (1926-2007), who also wrote as Leo Kessler and John Kerrigan. Charles Whiting volunteered for the Army aged 16 in 1943, where he saw active service in Belgium, Holland and Germany with the 52nd Reconnaissance Regiment. He has over 350 books to his credit, encompassing military history, espionage, biography and action fiction and holds the Sir George Dowty Prize for Literature.