false 443003 0 0
Born as plain Percy Wren, in Deptford, South London, England, Percy was the son of a schoolmaster. His literary influences included Frederick Marryat, R. M. Ballantyne, G. A. Henty, and H. Rider Haggard. After graduation with a Master of Arts degree from St. Catherine's College, Oxford, a non-collegiate college for poorer students, Percy worked as a boarding school teacher for a few years, during which he married Alice Shovelier, and had a daughter (Estelle, born 1901). In 1903 he joined the Indian Education Service as headmaster of Karachi High School (now Pakistan). While in India, he joined the Poona Volunteer Rifles with the rank of Captain, before his service was terminated in October 1915 after sick leave. He resigned from the Indian Education Service in November 1917. It is presumed that his wife died in India, for no record of her return to Britain has been found; his daughter having died in England in 1910. From there it is claimed that he joined the French Foreign Legion for a single tour of five years though he would have been 42 years of age on enlistment, somewhat older that the usual recruit. He lived out the remainder of his life in England concentrating on his literary career. One of the few photographs of Wren known shows a typical British officer of the Edwardian era with clipped moustache, wearing plain dark blue regimental dress.
Wren was a highly secretive man, and his membership of the Legion has never been confirmed. When his novels became famous, there was a mysterious absence of authenticating photographs of him as a legionnaire or of the usual press-articles by old comrades wanting to cash in on their memories of a celebrated figure. It is now thought more likely that he encountered legionnaires during his extensive travels in Algeria and Morocco, and skillfully blended their stories with his own memories of a short spell as a cavalry trooper in England. While his fictional accounts of life in the pre-1914 Foreign Legion are highly romanticised, his details of Legion uniforms, training, equipment and barrack room layout are generally accurate. This may however simply reflect careful research on his part - the descriptions of Legion garrison life given in his work "The Wages of Virtue" written in 1914 closely match those contained in the autobiographical "In the Foreign Legion" by ex legionnaire Edwin Rosen, published Duckworth London 1910.]]> male Deptford 1875/11/01 1941/11/22 997335 0899681352 9780899681351 11 <![CDATA[Beau Geste]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180098724m/997335.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180098724s/997335.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/997335.Beau_Geste 4.00 68 A flashback then unravels the mystery of the three English Geste brothers. After confessing to jewel theft they enlist in the French Foreign Legion. Sent to North Africa, the brothers encounter a tyrannical sergeant and the tale unfolds.

"One of the great classics of romantic, mysterious adventure fiction." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board)

]]> 443003 4.06 144 24 1924 2567615 1432612190 9781432612191 0 <![CDATA[Good Gestes: Stories of Beau Geste, His Brothers, and Certain of Their Comrades in the French Foreign Legion]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2567615.Good_Gestes_Stories_of_Beau_Geste_His_Brothers_and_Certain_of_Their_Comrades_in_the_French_Foreign_Legion 4.40 5 443003 4.06 144 24 2004 997332 0899681360 9780899681368 0 <![CDATA[Beau Ideal]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/997332.Beau_Ideal 4.25 4 443003 4.06 144 24 1929 997336 0685030490 9780685030493 1 <![CDATA[Beau Sabreur]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/997336.Beau_Sabreur 5.00 3 443003 4.06 144 24 2005 2520146 0719515637 9780719515637 1 <![CDATA[Wages of Virtue]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2520146.Wages_of_Virtue 5.00 2 443003 4.06 144 24 1927 2567639 0 <![CDATA[Soldiers of Misfortune]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2567639.Soldiers_of_Misfortune 4.00 2 443003 4.06 144 24 1910 2567634 0899681387 9780899681382 0 <![CDATA[Desert Heritage]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2567634.Desert_Heritage 5.00 1 443003 4.06 144 24 1976 2567617 1426442718 9781426442711 0 <![CDATA[Snake and Sword]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2567617.Snake_and_Sword 5.00 1 443003 4.06 144 24 2004 1228134 0727801619 9780727801616 0 <![CDATA[Action and Passion]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1228134.Action_and_Passion 4.00 1 443003 4.06 144 24 0 7310167 1409211592 9781409211594 0 <![CDATA[Beau Sabreur]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7310167-beau-sabreur 0.0 0 443003 4.06 144 24 2008