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Lord John Grey and his older brother Hal, the Earl of Melton, are waiting at the Beefsteak Club for their mother's fiancé to arrive. General Sir George Stanley arrives with his stepson, Percy Wainwright in tow. Percy addresses Hal as Your Grace, which dampens the moment. Seventeen years earlier, John and Hal's father, the Earl of Pardloe, was found dead in the conservatory, an apparent suicide. His name since has been linked to the Jacobites, those who wish to replace the Hanoverian King George II with the Stuart heir to the throne of England. Therefore, Hal has renounced the title until his father's name can be cleared. In all other respects, John and Hal find Stanley to be affable and kind, and although their mother would lose her title, both the Dowager Countess and the General are comfortably well off, so the boys approve the marriage. However, Percy seems familiar to Lord John. It turns out they had met before, at the Lavender Club. Hal and John arrive at White's Chocolate House, another private club, on a snowy evening. A man is lying in the snow. No one has called for help because the denizens of the club were too busy betting on whether or not the man was dead. Grey brings the man inside and goes to look at the betting book. There he finds that his brother had bet £20,000 (an even greater sum in those days than now) that his father was not a traitor. Grey adds his name. He knows his father was not a traitorous suicide. Diana Gabaldon, as usual, has done her research, even in what she calls her short stories. Her six Outlander novels each run to 1500 pages or so. The Lord John books are only about 500 to 600 pages. The social history of the time is very well represented in these pages. Lord John, a minor character from the Outlander series, is the protagonist. He is a very complex man: military officer, younger son of a Duke and therefore titled in his own right, and gay. It was a dangerous time for gay men. Even if you are not a fan of most historical fiction, you will find that in these books, the writing flows smoothly. The books are long, but unpadded. This is one of those books that keep you up all night to see what happens next. Social history is much more fascinating than political history.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, October 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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