Joseph: The Life of Joseph Bosham, Self-Styled 3rd Viscount of Bosham, Covering the Years from 1790 to 1813

I've just finished this wonderful novel, one of several I've read by Julian Rathbone, and I enjoyed it every bit as much as The Last English King. Fantastic characterization and vivid historical fiction! It's a shame his novels aren't more widely known in the United States.

About forty pages into this novel the narrator and his two eleven-year old friends are playing near their home--Salamanca, Spain, 1801--when off in the distance, they hear an unusual rumbling noise, a noise the narrator later in his life would quickly learn to identify as that of a large army on the march. It is the French army, and the boys are fascinated by its approach. An advance scout breaks from the main body and reins up near them: "He had a tall round black hat swathed with a yellow scarf beneath a small black plume; his coat was dark green with silver frogging, black shoulder straps, and wide white sash; his breeches were red above black boots." His sword was a, "heavy, long, sabre, slightly curved," which would, "cleave you from the top of your head to your crutch and leave you in two halves like a sucking pig." His face was, "lean, bronzed, narrow-eyed beneath curling eyebrows that sneered, with moustaches waxed and turned up, and white powdered hair tied back in a knot like a bullfighter's pigtail." With this kind of detail, you realize at that moment that you're going to be in for a great book. The story is narrated by Joseph, and the premise is that he is writing to Lord Wellington--years after the events he relates here--in an attempt to finagle some money from him. He says he can prove he was a member of the English army, he implies that Wellington was the father of the bastard son he has raised, and though born in Italy and raised in Spain, he also has the audacity to claim an English heritage. Sounds a bit preposterous, but then this Joseph has a way of making one want to believe him. He's a clever, conniving little fellow who we find nobody trusts but everybody likes. He's an admitted coward, an opportunist, a toady, a libertine--and a charmer. Most of all, he is a survivor, as he will tell you, again and again. He will also tell you that he is completely truthful. Heh, heh. Not exactly, but to a certain degree, well, yes. He is. In any event, Spain was a hotbed of activity in the early 19th century as it was invaded by Napoleon and then governed by his brother, although they were never really able to conquer it. The Spanish Ulcer, as Napoleon referred to it. Spanish citizens were bitterly divided over their support for him and bloody conflict raged. Our hero spends the early part of this era in a brothel operated by a madam who may or may not have been his mother, (and with whom he never, EVER, had sexual relations), ignobly spying alternately for both sides and for no other purpose than to save his own skin. He eventually ends up as a member of the English army--possibly--after they save him from a gang of gypsies who may--perhaps--have castrated him. He is present at if not exactly a participant in the two decisive battles of the war: Salamanca in 1812, and Vittorio in 1813, the latter of which drove Napoleon out of the country for good. Luckily for us, whether drunk with wine, or running

Julian Rathbone, the author, has done a remarkable job of telling the fictionalized account of the life of an engaging, adventurous man of the Napoleonic era. Joseph, as a character, is so interesting and well developed that you feel you know him very well. Other characters are similarly developed and portrayed. Furthermore, the plot is fascinating and well-paced, taking the reader across the map of Europe, through villages, battlegrounds, etc. Mr. Rathbone clearly researched his subject well, as he has a clear command of the era in his descriptions of the life of the times. As a reader, you become completely immersed in the story and learn much about this important time in European history. The book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and it is easy to see why it was. I have also read Mr. Rathbone's book, The Last English King, which is equally, if not perhaps, more wonderful. Fans of well-written, literary historical fiction will be richly rewarded from reading these books of Mr. Rathbone.