In the late eighteenth century, with England seemingly beset on all sides, the War Office needs agents to spy for them and James Burke is a perfect choice: half-gentleman, half-soldier, and well-suited to the job of spying. As a spy, Burke has been to the Iberian Peninsula, to Egypt, to Paris, after Napoleon is exiled to Elba and Ireland. The book about this latter adventure I have reviewed previously. England needs spies everywhere, and Burke is the perfect chameleon.
My knowledge of the War of 1812 is limited and I enjoyed the fact that this book focused narrowly on what predated the war, taking place in Canada. Burke has been summoned back to London from Portugal by General Gordon of the Horse Guards. Gordon is fearful of the growth and expansion of America and that the country will try to annex Canada next. He sees a way to gain an advantage in an inevitable war between England and America by arming and supporting the Indians of the First Nations, who are already antagonistic to Americans because of the loss of their lands to settlers. Sergeant William Brown, whom Burke knows well, will accompany him.
His journey takes him to the heart of the Canadian wilderness and the tribal home of the Shawnee people, where he expects to find Tecumseh, who is trying to unite the different tribes to confront the Americans. He is taken on a long journey to a meeting with Tecumseh, while Brown stays behind, assimilating into the Shawnee culture and trying to train them to face an American sortie determined to wipe them out.
Surrounded by a treacherous political landscape, Burke’s journey eventually takes him to Washington and then back to open conflict along the Canada-US border. There he has to make a decision about whether he in fact wants to be a soldier in the King’s Army or return to his life as a spy.
The journey, the Shawnee culture, the surroundings, and the military confrontation are all written in meticulous and accurate detail. This book is full of tension and historically fascinating, and the descriptions of Burke’s journey and the characters that populate it are colorful and real –a book about a war that I doubt few people know much about.I recommend it strongly to aficionados of historical novels and of American and Canadian history in particular.
About the Author:
Tom Williams used to write books for business. Now he writes novels set in the 19th century that are generally described as fiction but which are often more honest than the business books. (He writes contemporary fantasy as well, but that’s a dark part of his life, so you’ll have to explore that on your own – ideally with a friend and a protective amulet.)
His stories about James Burke are exciting tales of high adventure and low cunning set around the Napoleonic Wars. The stories have given him the excuse to travel to Argentina, Egypt, and Spain and call it research.
Tom lives in London. His main interest is avoiding doing any honest work and this leaves him with time to ski, skate, and dance tango, all of which (before covid) he thought he did quite well. In between, he reads old books and spends far too much time looking at ancient weaponry.
You can find Tom Williams
On twitter @TomCW99
On his website: https://tomwilliamsauthor.co.uk
Or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorTomWilliams
