In the tradition of Patrick O'Brian's beloved historical military adventures comes the first in a dashing new series featuring Cornet Matthew Hervey, a young cavalry officer in Wellington's army of 1815. A Close Run Thing For two decades, since the French Revolution, England and her allies have fought a seemingly endless war to loosen Bonaparte's stranglehold on Europe. Matthew Hervey, a twenty-three-year-old parson's son, has risen through the ranks of His Majesty's cavalry to a junior command in the 6th Light Dragoons. Torn by ambition and ensnared in the intrigues of Wellington's army, Matthew struggles to shape his destiny, but his efforts are about to be cast to the winds of fate. For amid the clash of armies, he will find himself a catalyst in the battle of the century...near the small Belgian village of Waterloo.
In a rousing follow-up to the critically acclaimed A Close Run Thing, Captain Matthew Hervey makes the hazardous sea voyage to India for what the Duke of Wellington has called “deuced tricky work.”As Wellington’s new aide-de-camp, Matthew’s covert mission will embroil him in the jostling of native potentates and England’s encroaching East India Company — both threatened by lawless bands of horsemen bent on plunder and massacre. When Matthew’s journeying leads him to the small key state of Chintal, he thinks himself close to his objective. But at the rajah’s sumptuous court, he discovers that war in India is waged as often with money and spies as with the clear-cut tactics of the battlefield — with battles won through devious conversations and murderous perfidy. And Matthew, torn between his honor and his destiny, is drawn deeper into the court’s serpentine coils than he ever dreamed....
From the Sunday Times bestselling author Allan Mallinson, a riveting read with the perfect combination of hero, history and adventure - perfect for fans of Patrick O'Brian and Bernard Cornwell."Convincingly drawn, perfectly paced and expertly written...A Joy to read" - Antony Beevor."I can't wait to read the next in the series..." - ***** Reader review."A captivating read..."- ***** Reader review."Allan Mallinson is a truly gifted storyteller..."- ***** Reader review.*************************************************************************Waterloo 1815. The war against Napoleon Bonaparte is raging to its bloody end at Waterloo.A young officer - Cornet Matthew Hervey - going about his duty suddenly finds himself at the crux of events. The decisions he has to make - both military and romantic - will change the course of his life, and possible have far reaching political consequences...A Close Run Thing is the first book in Allan Mallinson's Matthew Hervey series. His adventures continue in The Nizam's Daughters.
Another riveting Matthew Hervey adventure from the Sunday Times bestselling author Allan Mallinson, combining hero, history and drama to perfection. If you like Patrick O'Brian and Sharpe, you'll love this!"A marvellous read, paced like a well-balanced symphony ... This is more than a ripping yarn..." - The Times"This is an engaging work...The attention to detail is admirable" -- Daily Express"I strongly recommend this book (and the series) to any lover of this genre. FIVE STARS" - ***** Reader review. *************************************************************************1816: Fresh from the field at Waterloo, and leaving behind his fiancée Lady Henrietta Lindsey, Matthew Hervey is dispatched to India on a secret mission. The state of Chintal is threatened by both intrigue from within and military might from without. Hervey finds he is once more destined for the battlefield.In a land at once alien, exotic and beguiling, Matthew Hervey's mettle will be tested to the limit...Have you read A Close Run Thing - the first Matthew Hervey adventure? The Nizam's Daughters is the second book in Allan Mallinson's Matthew Hervey series. His adventures continue in A Regimental Affair.
Another riveting Matthew Hervey adventure from the Sunday Times bestselling author Allan Mallinson, combining hero, history and drama to perfection. If you like Patrick O'Brian, Bernard Cornwell and CS Forester, this will not disappoint!"Assured and capable...a fine read" - The Times"Matthew Hervey has now joined Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe and Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey" - Birmingham Post"Delighted, as simple as that." - ***** Reader review"Absolutely excellent - cannot recommend this series of books enough to anyone who likes historical fiction." - ***** Reader review ***********************************************************************Canada 1817: Captain Matthew Hervey is suffering the effects of unrest within his beloved regiment, the 6th Light Dragoons.Their new commanding officer - wealthy, arrogant and cruel - has taken an immediate dislike to him. Somehow, Hervey must earn promotion while retaining his integrity and the loyalty of his men.Then the regiment is sent to Canada where, in the aftermath of war with the United States, Hervey faces danger on two fronts. Murderous native tribes are on the move. While, closer to home, he and his commanding officer have embarked on a collision course - the consequences of which will be devastating...Have you read A Close Run Thing and The Nizam's Daughters - the first two Matthew Hervey adventures? A Regimental Affair is the third book in Allan Mallinson's Matthew Hervey series. His adventures continue in A Call to Arms.
Matthew Hervey is charged with raising a new troop, and organising transport for India - for he, his men and their horses are to set sail with immediate effect. What Hervey and his soldiers cannot know is that in India they will face a trial for which they are ill prepared. A large number of Burmese war-boats are assembled near Chittagong.
Matthew Hervey and the 6th Light Dragoons are stationed in India, where conflagration looks set to flair. The usurper prince, Durjan Sal, has taken refuge in the infamous fortress of Bhurtpore. Hot and dangerous work lies ahead for Matthew Hervey and his courageous troop who know their fortunes will be decided by the sabre's edge.
Matthew Hervey joins a party of officers sent to lend support to Portugese regent. But Peninsula is a place redolent with memories. The French had forced British army into retreat until, under leadership of Sir John Moore, they made a defiant stand at Corunna. As he prepares for battle, Hervey finds himself confronting ghosts from his past.
Edgehill, 1642: Surveying the disastrous scene in the aftermath of the first battle of the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell realizes that war can no longer be made in the old, feudal way: there has to be system and discipline, and therefore - eventually - a standing professional army.
It's 1826, and Matthew Hervey of the 6th Light Dragoons is a prisoner of the Spanish, incarcerated in the fortress of Badajoz. As he plans his escape, his thoughts return to the year 1812 when he was a cornet in Wellington's Peninsula Army. While Hervey paces his prison cell, and re-lives the bloodshed of battles past, friends rush to his aid.
It is 1827, and Matthew Hervey is on the look out for a new posting. He soon finds one in the Cape Colonies, where there is need of a man to re-organise the local forces, and in particular to form a new company of horse. As Hervey and his greenhorn troops are plunged into a battle, death is only a heartbeat away.
It is 1827: Britain and the Mediterranean Captain Sir Laughton Peto, engaged to Matthew Hervey's sister, is sailing his line-of-battle ship towards Navarino Bay. All is set fair for Matthew Hervey's marriage to Lady Lankester, and his return to active duty at the Cape. But trouble lies ahead as familial commitments clash with affairs of the heart.
Matthew Hervey of the 6th Light Dragoons is urgently summoned to the Cape Colony when he learns that the Zulu warrior King Shaka is about to wage war. Soon Hervey, his old friend Eyre Somervile and their escort of dragoons and mounted rifles are riding north. When they arrive at Shaka's kraal it is a horrifying place.
January 1829: George IV is on the throne, Wellington is England's prime-minister, and snow is falling thickly on the London streets as Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Hervey is summoned to the Horse Guards in the expectation of command of his regiment, the 6th Light Dragoons. But the benefits of long-term peace at home mean cuts in the army.
‘War is too important to be left to the generals’ snapped future French prime minister Georges Clemenceau on learning of yet another bloody and futile offensive on the Western Front. One of the great questions in the ongoing discussions and debate about the First World War is why did winning take so long and exact so appalling a human cost? After all this was a fight that, we were told, would be over by Christmas. Now, in his major new history, Allan Mallinson, former professional soldier and author of the acclaimed 1914: Fight the Good Fight, provides answers that are disturbing as well as controversial, and have a contemporary resonance. He disputes the growing consensus among historians that British generals were not to blame for the losses and setbacks in the ‘war to end all wars’ – that, given the magnitude of their task, they did as well anyone could have. He takes issue with the popular view that the ‘amateur’ opinions on strategy of politicians such as Lloyd George and, especially, Winston Churchill, prolonged the war and increased the death toll. On the contrary, he argues, even before the war began Churchill had a far more realistic, intelligent and humane grasp of strategy than any of the admirals or generals, while very few senior officers – including Sir Douglas Haig – were up to the intellectual challenge of waging war on this scale. And he repudiates the received notion that Churchill’s stature as a wartime prime minister after 1940 owes much to the lessons he learned from his First World War ‘mistakes’ – notably the Dardanelles campaign – maintaining that in fact Churchill’s achievement in the Second World War owes much to the thwarting of his better strategic judgement by the ‘professionals’ in the First – and his determination that this would not be repeated.Mallinson argues that from day one of the war Britain was wrong-footed by absurdly faulty French military doctrine and paid, as a result, an unnecessarily high price in casualties. He shows that Lloyd George understood only too well the catastrophically dysfunctional condition of military policy-making and struggled against the weight of military opposition to fix it. And he asserts that both the British and the French failed to appreciate what the Americans’ contribution to victory could be – and, after the war, to acknowledge fully what it had actually been.
'No part of the Great War compares in interest with its opening', wrote Churchill. In this history, the author brings his experience as a professional soldier to bear on the circumstances, events, actions and individuals and speculates - tantalizingly - on what might have been...
Once again, THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR Allan Mallinson captivates readers with an eminently readable piece of historical fiction. If you're a fan of Patrick O'Brian, Bernard Cornwell and CS Forester, you'll love this.'The Matthew Hervey books have a way of getting under your skin...reveals a man who is very much of his time -and one to have beside you when riding into action.' - DAILY MAIL'One for the fans, who will not be disappointed by Mallinson's winning combination of scrupulous research and derring-do...with the French in front and the Russians behind, Hervey's your man.' - THE TIMES'Leaves the reader slavering for the next instalment.' -- ***** Reader review'This is historical fiction at its very best.' -- ***** Reader review'Such a pleasure to read a well written, well edited, well researched, readable piece of historical fiction.' -- ***** Reader review******************************************************************January 1830, and one of the hardest winters in memory...The prime minister, the Iron Duke, is resisting growing calls for parliamentary reform, provoking scenes of violent unrest in the countryside.Against this inflammable backdrop Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Hervey, recently returned from an assignment in the Balkans, takes command of his regiment, the 6th Light Dragoons. His fears that things might be a little dull are quickly dispelled by the everyday business of vexatious officers, NCOs promotions and incendiarists on the doorstep of the King himself.But it's when the Sixth are sent to Brussels for the fifteenth anniversary celebrations of the battle of Waterloo and find themselves caught up in the Belgian uprising against Dutch rule that the excitement really starts.Will Hervey be able to keep out of the fighting - a war that would lead, nearly a century later, to Britain's involvement in an altogether different war - while safeguarding his country's interests? Not likely!
From THE Sunday Times bestselling author Allan Mallinson, a riveting read with the perfect combination of hero, history and adventure - perfect for fans of Patrick O'Brian and Bernard Cornwell.'A very astounding and enjoyable military read' -- ***** Reader review'Excellent - full of excitement, adventure and history' -- ***** Reader review'Outstanding' -- ***** Reader review'Magnificent!' -- ***** Reader review'Allan Mallinson is a truly gifted storyteller..."- ***** Reader review*********************************************************************************1831: riots and rebellions are widespread . . .In England, the new government is facing protests against the attempts of the Tory-dominated House of Lords to thwart the passing of the Reform Bill. In India, relations are strained between the presidency of Madras and some of the neighbouring princely states.Having taken command of the action in Bristol to restore order after one of the bloodiest and most destructive riots in the nation's history, Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Hervey is out of favour with the new government. But then his old friend, Sir Eyre Somervile, offers him a lifeline...Somervile has persuaded the Court of Directors of the East India Company to approve an increase in the Madras military establishment. Hervey and the 6th Light Dragoons are sent to the princely state of Coorg. The Rajah is in revolt against the East India Company's terms and Hervey's regiment is called upon to crush the rebellion.With the stakes raised by an unexpected visitation from his past, for Hervey the question is whether he and his men will get out of this brutal war unscathed?
Looking at the First World War month by month reveals its complexity while preserving a sense of time. The month is a more digestible gauge. Based on the Allan Mallinsonâ??s monthly commentaries in The Times throughout the centenary, Fight to the Finish is a new and original portrait of â??The War to End War.â?
'Matthew Hervey is as splendid a hero as ever sprang from an author's pen' The TimesFollowing the 6th Light Dragoons' successful campaign in the state of Coorg and the deposition of its deranged Rajah, Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Hervey is looking forward to a few months' respite for his regiment, for himself and his family. Indeed, with his reputation restored, he's rarely felt so content. Alas, such tranquillity is not to last. India's governor-general believes Hervey is just the man to lead a force against the Thuggee and Dacoity gangs whose increasingly vicious attacks threaten not only the stability of a number of friendly princely states but also, of course, the East India Company's interests in the sub-continent. And so Hervey reluctantly leads the Sixth into the field once more. It's a mission that will prove infinitely more complex, brutal and bloody than anyone predicted. For Hervey has taken the first steps on the path towards the conflagration history calls the Indian Mutiny . . .'Mallinson's series of early 19th-century military adventures are even better than Patrick O'Brian's naval equivalent . . . Faithful period detail. Rattling pace. Loveable characters' A. N. Wilson'Thrilling . . . richly engaging, old-fashioned storytelling' Daily Mail
