Percy Blake; Or, The Young Rifleman - Softcover

Captain Rafter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0371735122 ISBN 13: 9780371735121

Publisher: HardPress, 2021

Synopsis

Percy Blake; Or, The Young Rifleman by Captain Rafter is a first-person military memoir and adventure set in Ireland and the Napoleonic era. The narrator, a young Irishman named Percy Blake, recounts his early life, the lure of a military career, and his experiences—from truancy and romantic reveries to recruitment antics, barrack life, duels, and romantic entanglements—through Chelmsford, Norman Cross, Lancashire, and Oldham. The narrative follows the recruitment exploits of Mick Flaherty, the exploits of the Irish Brigade, and the narrator's transformation from a hopeful youth into a commissioned officer bound for the Peninsula. It includes episodes of the Walcheren campaign, the bombardment of Flushing, and glimpses of social life in garrison towns, with humor and satire balanced against harsh realities of war, disease, and discipline. Through vivid scenes and confessed adventures, the work offers a lively portrait of early 19th-century British soldiery and society, blending anecdote, sentiment, and comic reflection on glory, duty, and youth.

Edition details

• Publisher: HardPress
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0371735122
• ISBN 13: 9780371735121
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 357