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Free lance
Book by Shipway, George
- GenresHistorical Fiction
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1976
About the author
George Shipway
13 books20 followersGeorge Shipway (1908–1982) was a British author best known for his historical novels, but he also tried his hand at political satire in his book The Chilian Club.
Shipway was born in 1908, and served in the Indian Imperial Cavalry until 1946. He died in 1982. His cavalry background served him well when he took up writing; his descriptions of cavalry battles are full of minute detail and his works generally were meticulously researched.
IN his 1969 novel Knight in Anarchy Shipway describes the life of Humphrey de Visdelou as he follows Geoffrey de Mandeville to his doom. In the book Shipway indicates that he lives on the estates that de Visdelou once owned.
Shipway was born in 1908, and served in the Indian Imperial Cavalry until 1946. He died in 1982. His cavalry background served him well when he took up writing; his descriptions of cavalry battles are full of minute detail and his works generally were meticulously researched.
IN his 1969 novel Knight in Anarchy Shipway describes the life of Humphrey de Visdelou as he follows Geoffrey de Mandeville to his doom. In the book Shipway indicates that he lives on the estates that de Visdelou once owned.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 20, 2017
George Shipway's "Free Lance" is on my list of Books That Need To Be Filmed--- my one fear being that whoever filmed it would try to pretty up the 18th-c. attitudes or assign 21st-c. morality to the tale.
I'm in an early Raj mood this summer, and Shipway's "Free Lance" is a perfect tale--- warfare, intrigue, politics, and cultural clashes in an India still not fully under British control, an India where the East India Company is one player among many, where fortunes are made and lost by exiles and rogues, and where European mercenaries command armies for native princes. Its hero, the dashaway cavalry officer Hugo Amaury, is as perfect an 18th-c. figure as Jack Aubrey, a creature of physical courage and aristocratic conceptions of personal honour that would horrify and scandalise in 2010--- but someone every male reader secretly wants to be.
So--- "Free Lance": high-adrenaline, witty, well-researched, exciting. A delight to read on a summer's afternoon. Get a take-away lamb vindaloo, open up some pale ale, and read. It's very much worth it.
I'm in an early Raj mood this summer, and Shipway's "Free Lance" is a perfect tale--- warfare, intrigue, politics, and cultural clashes in an India still not fully under British control, an India where the East India Company is one player among many, where fortunes are made and lost by exiles and rogues, and where European mercenaries command armies for native princes. Its hero, the dashaway cavalry officer Hugo Amaury, is as perfect an 18th-c. figure as Jack Aubrey, a creature of physical courage and aristocratic conceptions of personal honour that would horrify and scandalise in 2010--- but someone every male reader secretly wants to be.
So--- "Free Lance": high-adrenaline, witty, well-researched, exciting. A delight to read on a summer's afternoon. Get a take-away lamb vindaloo, open up some pale ale, and read. It's very much worth it.
March 3, 2019
Probably more a 3.5 read. The setting was excellent but the author seems to have gotten bored with his first character and pitched him for focusing on the second character.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews