“No Surrender” – A Review

After our Scottish adventures, we decided to move into France. We accordingly began reading “No Surrender” by G. A . Henty.

George Alfred Henty was an Englishman who lived from December 8, 1832 – November 16, 1902. He was a married man with children. Mr. Henty was the author of at least 144 books, many of which, if not all, are written to impart real history to the reader. His works include “In Freedom‘s Cause”, “In the Reign of Terror” and “Won by the Sword”. For reasons best known to himself, Mr. Henty chose to use his first initials and his last name for a pen name thus becoming known as “G. A. Henty”.

“No Surrender” was first published by Blackie & Son, London. I believe it was published about the year 1893. I had no access to any copies of “No Surrender” in book form, so I obtained a copy that could be read on our Palm from Project Gutenberg. It was first released on the site on December 11, 2006. (They have countless books on their site that can be read either on the computer or Palm and they are free!) The book is 18 chapters long and I have no idea how many pages – they are not numbered on a Palm.

“No Surrender – A Tale of the Rising of La Vendee”  centers around a young Englishman of about fifteen or sixteen by the name of Leigh Stansfield. When his sister weds a Frenchman, he moves with her and her new husband to Nantes in France in the year 1791. All goes peacefully enough, until the commencement of the French Revolution and with it, “The Reign of Terror”. Having killed King Louis of France (and most of his nobles), the Revolutionist government decides that they are going to take men into their army by force. Leigh’s brother in law, Jean and his sister, Patsey have a home and estate in La Vendee and when the government makes this decision,  Jean and Leigh with the tenants of the estate join an army raised by a man named Cathelineau, to fight the French Revolutionist’s and keep them from invading La Vendee. This story relates the bravery of the real men who fought at La Vendee along with the adventures and exploits of the fictitious young man whose tale is the heart of the story. When the fighting goes against them, it is Leigh’s responsibility to convey his sister and her son to England safely. But can he do so when the French government is constantly on the lookout for fugitives trying to escape to that country?

This book was very interesting to read. We learned much about the French Revolution, the fighting between the republicans and the royalist’s of La Vendee and life in France in and around this time period. Leigh Stansfield is an example of cheerfulness in difficulties, courage in danger and quickness of action in time of need.

I would highly recommend this book!

To the KING be all the glory!