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The Eighteenth Century
The French Revolution and Napoleon
Dr Manette has been a prisoner in the Bastille for eighteen years when he is suddenly released into the care of his old servant Defarge. Dr Manette is sent to England where he makes a new life for himself with Lucie, the daughter he has not seen since she was a baby. Lucie marries the scholarly, thoughtful and compassionate Charles Darnay.
Charles Darnay is actually the heir to a large French estate but, horrified by the oppression of the peasants by his uncle, he left France and settled in England. When he finally succeeds to the estate after the assassination of his uncle he remains in England but leaves instructions with a servant about the estate.
Meanwhile Defarge, Dr Manette's old servant, is working as a member of a network of revolutionary spies. Charles Darnay's whole family are doomed to destruction. "The Chateau and all the race ... Extermination."
With the advent of the French Revolution the servant looking after Charles Darnay's estate is imprisoned. He manages to get a message to Charles asking for help.
Charles promptly leaves for France. When they hear where he has gone Dr Manette and Lucie follow.
Charles is in great danger but help comes from a surprising source - the idle, dissolute lawyer Sydney Cartier.
An exciting story which vividly conveys the horrors of the French Revolution.
12+
French born Marguerite Blakely thinks her husband Sir Percy a wealthy, idle, worthless fop. But what she and nearly everyone else does not know is that Sir Percy has a secret life. He is the leader of that daring band of young Englishmen who cross to France and snatch the aristocratic victims from Madame Guillotine.
Then Marguerite's own brother is imprisoned and due to be guillotined and Marguerite finally finds out who her husband is and the danger he is in.
Still as thrilling today as when it was first written.
12+
Available over the internet from http://www.amazon.com
PrestonSpeed is republishing all the books of G.A. Henty. And not abridged editions either. The original versions. This book was first published in 1887.
Harry Sandwith is the son of a doctor with a large family to support. Dr Sandwith attends a young French nobleman and two years later he receives a letter from the Frenchman saying that he admires English education and the independence of English boys. He asks Dr Sandwith if he would let one of his sons spend three years with his brother's family as he feels his nephews would learn a lot from an English boy of their own age.
This is just after the Storming of the Bastille and Harry's mother is dubious but Dr Sandwith points out that Harry will be staying, not in Paris, but on the family estates in Burgundy. The upshot is that Harry is allowed to go.
Harry travels to France and takes up residence in the chateau of the Marquis de St Caux. He becomes a companion to Ernest and learns fencing and dancing and takes part in a wolf hunt. From time to time news trickles in of events in Paris but the Marquis and his family are lulled into a sense of false security. Then the royal family tries to escape but is caught and brought back to Paris. The Marquis says his place is beside the King and he takes his family back to Paris. The Tuilleries is broken into and ransacked by the mob and the King taken to the Temple Prison.
Now the Marquis has no illusions. He arranges for his two sons to escape from France. He plans to disguise his three daughters and send them to live with his wife's old nurse. Harry says he is going to stay in Paris and try to protect the three girls.
Then disaster. The Marquis and his wife are arrested. They later perish in the riots of September 2nd when the mob broke into the prisons and massacred the prisoners. The two St Caux sons are caught at the frontier and put to death. Marie, the eldest of the St Caux daughters, is arrested and her two sisters are denounced to Robespierre.
But Harry has made himself the protector of the St Caux girls. He is determined to free Marie, and smuggle all three across France to the coast where they can board a ship to England.
Surely this is impossible? But Harry is courageous and resilient. By a lucky chance he earns the gratitude of Robespierre himself and is taken on as his secretary. Harry sees this as a glorious opportunity and he hatches a dangerous plan to save the girls.
Does he succeed?
For Henty this story starts rather slowly but once the Marquis and his wife are arrested the pace really picks up and the reader is treated to an especially thrilling adventure.
I am really glad to see Henty's books back in print.
Well worth reading both for the detailed historical background and the exciting story.
11 to adult
This is another in Scholastic's teenage historical romance series - Forget-me-Not.
The story begins in 1788. Fifteen year old Emma Kent lives with her professor father in Cambridge. Then her father marries again. His new wife has one idea in life - to enter society and take her family with her. With this end in view she persuades Mr Kent to employ Mademoiselle Yvette to "improve the tone of everything here." Mademoiselle is soon joined by one of her compatriots - a young man who is studying at the University and who is to be known simply as "Armand." Armand's stay is short but it is still long enough for him to become acquainted with Emma and for them both to develop deep feelings for each other. After he leaves Mademoiselle informs them that she too must leave. She is going to return to her former employers the Count and Countess Duval. When she leaves Emma goes with her. Emma is also going to stay at the chateau and teach English to Henri the young son of the Count and Countess.
Soon after arriving in France Emma finds herself involved in the events of the French Revolution. The Chateau is attacked by a band of revolutionaries and Henri and the Count and Countess are taken prisoners.
Emma is left with the few remaining servants. All she wants now is to return home but instead she allows herself to be talked into taking a message to Paris, to the Duke of Remy who is to deliver it to the King himself.
For Emma this is the beginning of an incredible series of adventures. She finds hospitality with a lawyer, Maitre Barre and his son Philippe. She makes her way to the Duke's house and finds that Armand is his son. Despite constant danger Emma and Armand pursue their mission.
As well as being true to the romance genre this is also an exciting story about the French Revolution which moves at a furious pace.
10+
In February 1797 about 1,200 French troops landed near Fishguard. They had believed that the Welsh peasants would rise and support the French against the rich landowners. But instead the Fishguard Fencibles prepared to defend their town. Reinforcements arrived and the French surrendered.
This is a fictionalised account as seen through the eyes of two twelve year old boys -- Morgan Owen and his friend Rhys.
9+
Ronald Welch wrote a series of novels about the Carey family throughout the centuries. Members of this family were usually prominent in either the army or the navy and this series plots the military history of England from the Crusades to the nineteenth century. Escape from France deals with the French Revolution.
The story starts quietly in Cambridge where Richard Carey, the wealthy and arrogant, son of the Earl of Aubigny dozes through a lecture. A fellow student is the studious and rather nervous Bellamy who is the son of the Careys' family solicitor.
After the lecture Richard goes with his cousin Jeffrey Standish to the races at Newmarket where Jeffrey loses a great deal of money.
Richard finds out that Jeffrey has fallen into the clutches of the money lenders and is deeply in debt. There is nothing for it. Jeffrey has to tell his father. It is arranged that Jeffrey is to join the East India Company. But Jeffrey is not prepared to be a clerk. He persuades Richard to lend him some money and runs away to Bavaria to join a friend of his rather disreputable Uncle Rupert. From then on no more is heard of Jeffrey for some time.
About a year later Richard is summoned home from Cambridge. He has relatives in France. His father tells him that Quentin d'Assailly, the Marquis de Vernaye, the head of the French branch of the family, has just been arrested. The d'Assailly chateau is only three miles from the coast and Richard's father has a plan. Or rather Uncle Rupert has a plan. He knows a smuggler who is to take Richard across the Channel in his boat and land him on the beach near the chateau. Richard is to go to the chateau and bring his aunt and two cousins back to the beach where they will be picked up by the smuggler who will be waiting for them offshore.
All goes according to plan and the Marquise and Richard's cousin Louise are taken aboard the smuggling boat. Then Armand says he is not going with them. He is going to Paris to rescue his father from the Abbaye prison. Richard at once says he will go with him.
After much adventure and danger they arrive in Paris. But how are they to rescue the Marquis? Richard finds two surprising helpers. Both Bellamy and his cousin Jeffrey are in Paris and they each make their own very different contribution to the rescue of the Marquis.
This is a thrilling tale of France under the threat of the guillotine. It is simply packed with adventure.
But it is more than just an exciting story. As is to be expected from Ronald Welch, it has an authentic background and a wealth of detail. Detail about Richard's carriage, his curricle, detail about the clothes the characters wore, details about fencing - and much more.
I think that this is one of the best of the Knight Crusader series.
10+
Ben Reeth works in the theatre at Covent Garden shifting scenery. As he does not have to go to the theatre until the afternoon, in the mornings he often models for the dogmatic old artist Linfoot. Ben dresses as an Ancient Greek and Linfoot puts him in a painting of, for example, Perseus discovering Andromeda.
It is 1814 and the war with France has just come to an end. Napoleon is sent to Elba. Ben's work for Linfoot has given him ideas. He sketches himself. He would like to travel abroad and see the places Linfoot talks about - Venice - and the picture galleries - and the monuments of antiquity. The only way in which Ben could travel would be to go as a servant to one of the gentry.
Then Ben gets his chance. He chases a pickpocket who has robbed a wealthy gentleman and returns the gentleman's wallet. The result of this is that the gentleman, Sir Henry Hawthorn, offers him employment and the chance to travel. Ben accepts. When he tells Linfoot the artist roars with laughter and tells him Sir Henry's nickname - Horsewhip Harry.
Then follows an intriguing and amusing description of Sir Henry's travels on the continent. Sir Henry is travelling with Lord Mulroy and his wife. Lord Mulroy is a hard drinker who is only interested in hunting and gambling. A special ship is hired to take them across the English Channel. They need a private ship because they are taking the horses for hunting and fifty pairs of foxhounds. The pantomine of embarking and, later in France, of finding hotels to cope, is described in detail. Eventually an efficient courier is found. Then Sir Henry becomes bored. He rents a chateau for Lord and Lady Mulroy and leaves himself for Italy with Ben.
Sir Henry is determined to see Elba - and Napoleon. They eventually arrive on the island and Sir Henry makes it quite clear to everyone what he thinks should be done with Napoleon. On Elba they also make the acquaintance of an American party, Mr and Mrs Cooper and a young lady Miss Fanny Blackwood. She is wearing a violet dress and Ben soon finds out why. Violet is the colour of the sympathisers of Napoleon. There is a saying that when the violets come in the spring the Emperor will return again.
Ben and Sir Henry leave Elba and go to Rome and Ben has the chance to do some sketching. Then there is the inevitable quarrel and Ben leaves Sir Henry. He goes to Naples and meets up with the Americans again and, after helping Fanny and making himself welcome, he travels south with them. Then Napoleon escapes from Elba and gathers a new army around him. The Coopers and Fanny will be all right as they have American passports but Ben could be arrested and held in prison for goodness how long. But Fanny has a daring plan for his escape.
This book is interesting and amusing and packed with historical detail. The celebrations in London when the end of the war is announced, the journey through France to Italy, the detailed descriptions of Elba and the conditions under which Napoleon lived, and much more. The characters of Linfoot and Sir Harry add humour and also throw light on the lives of the rich.
The first part of the book is interesting,amusing and entertaining rather than dramatic. This part of the book is for those who like to explore the lanes and byways rather than charge down the motorway at seventy miles an hour.
But after the escape of Napoleon things begin to change and the book turns into a thrilling adventure story with a touch of romance thrown in.
I found this book fascinating. Why, oh why, are books like this allowed to go out of print.
10+