To The Douro

Wellington's Dragoon #1

by David Blackmore

To The Douro
A young man's decision to fight leads to a war within a war...
To love...
To loss...
...and a quest for vengeance, as he plays a vital role for the future Duke of Wellington.

306 pages, Paperback

Published May 10, 2022

About the author

I am a retired museum professional, formerly the Registrar of the Royal Armouries, who I worked for for 26 years. After retiring I completed a PhD, which is published as 'Destructive and Formidable'. After writing 'So Bloody a Day', I turned my hand to writing fiction, 'To the Douro' being the first of 8 planned books making up the 'Wellington's Dragoon Series' and telling the story of a cavalry officer, Michael Roberts, during the Peninsular War against Napoleon. Book 4, 'A Different Kind Of War', has just been published and work has begun of book 5.

I started reenacting in 1973, and a lot of my reenacting experience has been as a cavalryman, most recently with B Troop of the 16th Light Dragoons, the regiment that features in the 'Wellington's Dragoon Series'. In 2015 I took part in the 200th anniversary reenactment of Waterloo, in command of the British Light Dragoons.

I ride regularly, and Johnny, Michael's horse, is a real horse that I frequently ride.

Reviews

[Neil Forde]

Interesting approach to the Peninsular War

Plenty of historical detail. I always wondered how horses where conditioned to gunfire.
Herein an explanation.
No description of bloody battles .
Lieutenant Roberts seems to be set up as an Exploration officer.
Downloaded the next in the series.

[Elinor Salter Glenn Salter]

Very good

I enjoyed this book immensely. It was interesting to see the negative comments about horses. I disagree. I find it intensely irritating when so many historical fiction writers from Roman to Elizabethan clearly have not a clue about riding and horse management narrating journeys in a day etc., which are impossible. This was all completely credible and perfect. Good action scenes and shaping up well for the series.
My one or perhaps 2 criticisms are the cover and the title, both of which , for me at least let the book down and do not do it justice.

[Ken Braney]

Great Story

The story is very fast moving from initially in England and French spies and danger for the senior Royals to Portugal and the start of the battles to drive the French out of the country. A very good read looming forward to the next book
I

[Terry Simpson]

Great book if you enjoy Sharpe and Griff Hosker's chevalier/ spy books.