Young Bloods by Simon Scarrow

This is the first in a series of novels which chart the careers of the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon Bonaparte. Actually I picked this book up several years ago under the impression that it was one of Mr Scarrow's excellent Roman novels and was so disappointed when it wasn't that I put it aside. This shows me two things, one: that I should have known that Simon Scarrow could not write a dull book no matter what the subject and two: the reason why some well known writers produce work under a pen name. I digress. Arthur Wesley is born the third son of an Irish Earl and therefore has to carve his own path to fame and fortune a circumstance that costs him the chance to marry the woman he loves. Fearful of the spread of revolution and determined to preserve Britain's traditional values he throws himself into a military career. Bonaparte, seething with resentment of his treatment as an outsider because of his Corsican birth, abandons his attachment to the land of his origins and embraces the revolution. We all know the course of events that these two men will dominate over the years of conflict to come but Simon Scarrow brings the tale vividly to life on the back of meticulous research and his talent for pacy narrative. On the subject of research, mine gives the familly name of Wellington as Wellesley whilst Scarrow persists in calling him Wesley. Which of us is right?