OFFICER AND GENTLEMAN

Dependable historically, and reliable in narration and character, Delves-Broughton carries on the story of the Arrowes, which began with Andria, and here is Sir Thomas, famous for his evil genius throughout England the continent, and his son, Quintin, who inherits not only his father's unenviable reputation, but the family fate of brother killing brother. Sir Thomas' fortunes are followed by those who wish him ill; Quintin, trying to live down his father's grim name, encounters hollow love in Russia, true love in Germany -- and turns on his class when his Margit is killed. Back in England, in the 35th Hussars, it is Stella Wentworth, cold, controlled, whom he wakes to passion -- and who wakes him to dream of permanent alliance-, the need to reclaim his estate by running a gambling house incognito (which kills a bastard brother), the proprieties necessary for his younger brother and sister, the obligation he feels for another bastard brother, the problems of the daughter that Stella bears him -- that are with him when he leaves for Crimea. And as the Charge of The Light Brigade makes its historical entry (and disappearance), Quintin is saved. In England again, sick and unsure, when Stella comes to him, they are able to face a future together. Reform minded, liberal yet prodigal in the 19th century tradition, Quintin's story against the highlights of his father's arrogant, rakehell career, makes an eminently readable story.