Fire Over England

Fire Over England is a 1936 English adventure novel by A. E. W. Mason. The story is set during the late 16th century and concerns the English response to the threat of the Spanish Armada of 1588; it is an obvious analogy to the international situation of Britain during 1936, a fact noted explicitly by Mason in his Preface to the first edition. The story begins in 1581 when the hero Robin Aubrey is at Eton; a few years previously, his father George was arrested for the possession of 'heretical literature' while travelling in Spain and supposedly executed. Robin becomes obsessed with avenging his father by funding a private naval expedition to destroy the Spanish treasure convoy, an ambition he is careful to hide from others.