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Trafalgar
  • Published: 5 April 2026
  • ISBN: 9781847921833
  • Imprint: Bodley Head
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $80.00
Categories:

Trafalgar

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EBook
5 Mar 2026
Hardback
5 Apr 2026
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A vivid and visceral portrayal of the most famous naval battle in history, focusing on the human cost of war, by a brilliant military historian

A vivid and visceral portrayal of the most famous naval battle in history, focusing on the human cost of war, by a brilliant military historian

At or about 1.15 in the afternoon of 21 October 1805, Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson was struck by a 22-gramme, 15-millimetre French musket round fired down from the mizzen top of the Redoutable, a distance of some 70 feet to HMS Victory’s quarter deck. It nicked the edge of his epaulette, and passed diagonally down, through the material of his coat and into the left shoulder, fracturing the upper part of the scapula or shoulder blade, then the second and third rib. It pierced the left lung, dividing a branch of the pulmonary artery, and emerged to sever the spine, splintering the sixth and seventh vertebrae above and below as it crashed between. The soft lead ball – distorted by collisions with bone – ended its flight embedded in muscle two inches below the right scapula.

In this fresh and visceral retelling of the battle of Trafalgar, Paul O’Keeffe traces the course of events both prior and subsequent to that fatal shot: from about 6.30 in the morning, as the British ships began their slow approach towards the combined French and Spanish fleet, until the cessation of firing that followed the apocalyptic destruction of the French 74-gun Achille at 5.45 in the afternoon.

But we also learn about the battle’s dramatic aftermath: how a violent storm that raged for eight days destroyed the surviving French and Spanish ships and drowned more sailors than had been killed during battle; how news of victory travelled and was celebrated in London; how Nelson’s body was brought home and given a spectacular funeral.

Paying meticulous attention to the peripheral – and little explored – details, O’Keeffe gives us a front-row view of events; and in his unflinching portrayal of the brutal reality of naval warfare, he tells the story of the human cost of war. Gripping and immersive, this is a unique account of Trafalgar for a new generation of readers.
  • Published: 5 April 2026
  • ISBN: 9781847921833
  • Imprint: Bodley Head
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $80.00
Categories:

About the author

Paul O'Keeffe

Paul O'Keeffe is a lecturer and writer based in Liverpool. His acclaimed books include Some Sort of Genius: A Life of Wyndham Lewis, A Genius for Failure: The Life of Benjamin Robert Haydon and, most recently, Waterloo: The Aftermath.

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Also by Paul O'Keeffe

Culloden
Waterloo
A Genius for Failure
Some Sort Of Genius
See all

Praise for Trafalgar

A gripping read, full of fascinating insights into the skills and mechanisms involved as well as deeply moving vignettes of the heroism and tragedy played out on that fateful October day. Brilliant

Adam Zamoyski

If you think you know it all about the battle of Trafalgar, think again. Paul O’Keeffe’s new book is full of fascinating information that few readers will have come across before … His book is a must for Trafalgar fans

Nicholas Best, author of Trafalgar

A tremendous tale - one of the most dramatic in our island's history - and O'Keeffe tells it beautifully

The Times on Culloden

Fascinating, meticulously researched, often brutally detailed ... without being there, those times could not be more vividly brought to life than in this tremendous book

Daily Mail on Culloden

A vibrant and vivid tale, of victory, defeat, savage retribution and 'high' art ... In our field one is often inclined to think or say, 'Do we really need another book on Culloden?' However, if they are written as well and as excitingly as Paul O'Keeffe's...then the answer is a resounding 'Yes!'

Robert Woosnam Savage FSA on Culloden

It is all here - and all told with the same verve, eye for anecdote and command of the material. This is a very good book, and a model of how narrative history should be written... anybody remotely interested in the battle should read

The Spectator on Waterloo

I was gripped by the wealth of detail and humanity in the book... This is how the tales of battles should be told, whatever the time, place or outcome

Emily Mayhew on Waterloo