Seven Men of Gascony by R. F. Delderfield

Seven Men of Gascony by R.F. Delderfield

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

(And what do we do in a a pandemic, but turn to the stalwart classics of the bookshelf?)

I do not remember the first time I read Seven Men of Gascony but I know that it was a long time ago. It was first published in the late 40s, and the work of an author whom I have never quite learnt to love anywhere else but in this book. But this book is enough, this sprawling tale of the last few years of the Napoleonic Wars, it is occasionally trite, occasionally a little manipulative, but rather utterly, endlessly good. I return to it regularly, particularly when I need stories of people being people, of nobility in the darkest of places, of emotion so thick and so painterly that it might be a sunset, and I needed it recently so I did. And I love it still, and I am so glad.

Seven Men of Gascony (those magnificent seven) is written from the French perspective, from the viewpoint of seven men brought together in the chaos of the last few years of the First Empire. It crosses battles, continents, skirmishes in the field, skirmishes in the bedroom, and it is old-fashioned but it works. It’s a classic, one that lets you see into why the French did what they did, why they followed who they did, and because of Delderfield’s background in the RAF, it is a classic which never lets you forget the man on the ground and the blood, sweat and tears that he poured into making the world happen.

You’ll like this if you are forgiving towards boy’s own adventures, or a fan of the work of Bernard Cornwell, or perhaps even in lockdown and desperate for a good old-fashioned roaring adventure. I like it. I like it a lot. And the ending, also, makes me cry. Every time.

View all my reviews