1826: Napoleon Bonaparte is dead, the Congress of Vienna's work is done, and there is peace in Europe. However, in Portugal there is the scent of civil war in the air following the death of KingJohn VI.Newly returned from India, Matthew Hervey joins a party of officers sent to make an assessment and lend support to the Portuguese queen. His place on the expedition is secured with the help and influence of his new friend, Lady Katherine Greville. But the Peninsula is a place redolent...

Following his best-selling title, The Nizam's daughters, this is Mallinson's third novel in the acclaimed series combining accurate historical details, breath taking battles, and an involving plot. It is 1817, and Captain Matthew Hervey has returned from his bloody battles in India to find England in political and economic disorder. The lack of a professional constabulary means the task of policing as become attributed to the army, and particularly the cavalry. Despite the chaos surroundin...

All looks set fair for Major Matthew Hervey: news of a handsome legacy should allow him to purchase command of his beloved regiment, the 6th Light Dragoons. He is resolved to marry, and, rather to his surprise, the object of his affections - the widow of the late Sir Ivo Lankester - has readily consented. But he has reckoned without the opportunism of a fellow officer with ready cash to hand...

1827: Captain Sir Laughton Peto, recently engaged to Matthew Hervey's sister, Elizabeth, has just taken command of HMS Prince Rupert. But his passage to the Ionian Sea - where Admiral Codrington is assembling an Anglo-Russian-French fleet to evict the Turks from Greek waters - will not be smooth sailing. First he must exercise his crew. He has also been entrusted with the safe passage to Malta of the Admiral's youngest daughter. Six months on, Matthew Hervey is in London recovering from an...

1824, the Sixth Light Dragoons are still stationed in India, and the talk in the officers' mess is of war. The Burmese are increasingly challenging the Company's dominion, and skirmishes are becoming common on India's borders. A blaze looks set to flare, taking the surrounding provinces with it. With the threat of war on two fronts, British troops must intervene.

January 1829: Cuts in the army mean that Matthew Hervey's Dragoons are to be reduced to a single squadron. With his long-term plans in disarray, Hervey undertakes a six-month assignment as an observer with the Russian army. Soon Hervey and his faithful groom, Private Johnson, are sailing north to St Petersburg, and on to the Eastern Balkans, seat of the ferocious war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. For Hervey, the stakes have never been higher - or more personal.

It's 1814, and Napoleon is hard-pressed to defend France from a combination of Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Britain. Nor is he the only one in a quandary.Matthew Hervey, a young British cornet, is in a rather unusual situation. As far as he knows, it's highly irregular to be arrested on a battlefield after a successful action. Still, it's hardly the first time politics has interrupted war, and as Hervey's career progresses, he increasingly balances both, sometimes more successfully...

Fresh from Waterloo, Matthew Hervey, aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington, leaves the scene of his triumph to travel to India. Chintal's Hervey's destination, and his mission's to glean intelligence for the Duke, who expects to become Governor-General of India. Chintal's under threat from Northern renegades, not to mention the neighbouring Nizam of Haidarabad, whose powerful and ferocious force of artillery is known all over India as the Nizam's Daughters. Hervey becomes embroiled in ano...

1828: Matthew Hervey of the Sixth Light Dragoons has been urgently recalled to South Africa. The stability of the Cape Colony has been threatened by Xhosa tribesman who have been making incursions across the borders. When Hervey is told by his old friend, Sir Eyre Somervile, that the Zulu warrior king, Shaka, is about to make war on neighbouring tribes, he knows that matters are perilous indeed. Leaving his new wife and young daughter in England, Hervey speeds to his friend's aid. He and S...

The Prime Minister is resisting growing calls for parliamentary reform, provoking scenes of violent unrest. 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 dull are quickly dispelled by the business of vexatious officers, difficult choices over which NCOs to promote, not to mention the incendiarists on the doorstep of the King himse...

Jack Steel, first met in Man of Honour, is a splendid hero on a new and dangerous mission. Perfect for all fans of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe.MEET JACK STEEL – GENTLEMAN, SOLDIER, HERO.In the early eighteenth century, the British army led by John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, were the leaders of a wide-ranging and very successful alliance. Jack Steel, maverick gentleman, superb soldier, was in the middle of any fight.Ramilles 1706. One of the great victories of the...

If you like Hornblower and Sharpe, you will love this all-action nautical page-turner from much loved author G.S.Beard. You'll feel as if you are in the midst of the action!'If you like sea stories, you will enjoy this, and even if you think you don't but enjoy things like Sharpe, it might just convert you' - HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW'Kept me spellbound' -- ***** Reader review'A fun, fast read' -- ****...