Captain Rawson
1 primary work • 6 total works
Book 4
In the wake of the resounding victory at the Battle of Oudenarde, career soldier Captain Daniel Rawson must take a leading role in the Allies' new strategy - to strike deeper into French Flanders and lay siege to Lille, the 'pearl of fortresses'. While the dashing Eugene, Prince of Savoy, is put in command of the siege, Daniel is sent to steal vital plans from inside Lille. Only partially successful, he has to return to the city to rescue his accomplice, the effervescent Rachel Rees. The Duke of Marlborough, meanwhile, finds his position as captain-general threatened by political enemies back in England. He is not helped by his wife Sarah, whose forthrightness has soured her hitherto close friendship with Queen Anne. Daniel Rawson is unaware that his beloved Amalia is herself under siege in England. A dangerous admirer is determined to seduce her, even if he has to have Daniel murdered before he can do so. As the weather worsens and Lille's famed defences appear to be holding, Daniel has to fight against one of his own allies, dwindling supplies, weakening morale, French patrols and a hired assassin. He must battle bravely on or risk losing everything -
It is 1709, and Europe is in the midst of the coldest winter for a century. France is suffering profoundly: with her people starving and her army rattled by mutiny and desertions, King Louis XIV is at The Hague, searching for peace with the English on almost any terms. To assist these negotiations, the Duke of Marlborough sends Captain Daniel Rawson on a dangerous mission to Paris to seek out a package of vital information that could secure an advantageous peace deal for England. Yet in spite of his efforts, the peace talks collapse, and Daniel finds himself once more embroiled in dangerous adventure. For Marlborough has another mission for him: this time it is not information but a precious tapestry that has to be recovered. The tapestry of the Battle of Ramillies has been stolen, and Daniel's hunt for the ruthless thieves leads him into enemy territory, where he must daily outwit betrayal and kidnap, and risk capture and life itself. All the while, the French army is regaining its strength under the supervision of Marshall Villars, a worthy opponent in the field.
As the opposing armies mass in the area around the village of Malplaquet, a bloody encounter looms, which means that if Daniel manages to return safely to the Duke's forces from behind enemy lines, he must then stand fast and fight in their most murdering battle yet.
As the opposing armies mass in the area around the village of Malplaquet, a bloody encounter looms, which means that if Daniel manages to return safely to the Duke's forces from behind enemy lines, he must then stand fast and fight in their most murdering battle yet.
Returning to camp from a dangerous solo mission behind enemy lines, career soldier Daniel Rawson finds himself stranded on foot, with French soldiers in fierce pursuit. A kindly farmer helps Daniel hide in his barn, then loans him a carthorse on which to escape. Later, when Daniel goes back to return the horse, he finds the farmhouse and barn have been set ablaze and the farmer approaching death, apparently at the hands of English soldiers. Back in England there is political unrest. Queen Anne's favour has shifted causing the Duke of Marlborough to resign as Commander-In-Chief. After several other farmhouses are burnt down in seemingly similar raids, Daniel enlists the help of his old friend Henry Welbeck to help investigate. All the while the treacherous and scheming French Commander, the Duc de Vendome, is becoming hell-bent on capturing Daniel, by any means at his disposal, including kidnapping the beautiful Amalia. Daniel has a chance of revenge when facing Vendome at the bloody battle of Oudenarde.
We come across our hero, Captain Rawson, deep inside the war-ravaged borders of Europe, as he fights alongside the brave and resolute Earl of Marlborough in defeating the, self-proclaimed, 'invincible' French army. Yet victory is short lived, blunted by the dissenting voices of the Dutch, who secretly seek to wrestle the power and life from Rawson's compatriot, Marlborough. In these hostile and insecure times, Captain Rawson is called on to succeed in his biggest, most daring mission to date: the rescue of a celebrated tapestry-maker turned spy from inside the fortified Bastille - the pride of a despotic France.Now alone behind enemy-lines, the undaunted Rawson must apply all his guile and wit in his rescuing of the renowned prisoner and his beautiful daughter, Amalia - a delicate girl to whom Rawson's friendship soon blossoms into something more.However, unbeknownst to Rawson the French and Dutch have already combined to plot both the assassination of Marlborough and the reclaiming of his power.
This time Europe is beginning to close in on him, and it will take all of his self-sacrifice, skill and sincerity to once again rescue the war and the army's pride from out of the clutches of the betrayers.
This time Europe is beginning to close in on him, and it will take all of his self-sacrifice, skill and sincerity to once again rescue the war and the army's pride from out of the clutches of the betrayers.
This is the first in a series of adventure novels featuring Captain Rawson - spy, linguist, sportsman, duellist, ladies' man and career soldier involved in the campaigns of the Duke of Marlborough during the war of the Spanish Succession. In 1685, young Daniel witnesses the regiment of his fierce Protestant father being destroyed by the troops of the Royal Army's second-in-command, John Churchill, and his Dutch mother narrowly avoiding rape at the hands of a soldier from the same platoon.After his father has been executed, Rawson and his mother leave Devon and sail for the Netherlands. In 1688, Rawson returns to England as a soldier in the Dutch Army. Among those who flock to support William of Orange in his bid to replace James II on the throne is John Churchill. Rawson and the future Duke of Marlborough are now on the same side...Filled with political intrigue, suspense, romance, private feuds and public scandals, "Soldier of Fortune" traces the shifting geographical patterns of Europe at a key time in history.
