The Lively Lady

"Lively Lady," delivers plenty of the sinewy narrative and strong character development that typify Kenneth Roberts' previous novels, "Arundel" and "Rabble in Arms." But it differs from its predecessors in its compactness. It is like a string quartet compared to those more orchestral works, producing a sound and feeling that is just as powerful if not as loud or lengthy.Set during the War of 1812, most of the action takes place aboard ship or inside the walls of the infamous Dartmoor Prison. In such close quarters, the narrator's psyche tends to loom large.The result is a compact novel that, despite its size, really packs a punch. I recommend it.

This novel, first published in 1931, has gone through many editions. It is written in the style of the period, e.g., Errol Flynn type stories. It goes into excessive detail at some points which can make the story drag a bit. In some ways, it reflects a Thomas Hardy type writing style. It is a narrative style as told by the main character. Some parts of the action were borrowed by later writers.The setting is March 1812 to April 1815. Merchant captain Richard Nason is trading with the British, carrying supplies to the British Army in Spain, and is generally opposed to the war, when he is pressed aboard a British Royal Navy sloop. His attitude changes and (after escaping) he takes a privateer to sea in July 1812 after war is formally declared. Details of sail handling and such are held to a minimum, and much of the story takes place on land. He becomes enamored with the young wife of an older English landowner, Sir Arthur Ransome, first meeting her before the war, then again aboard a ship he captures.After various adventures he is captured and imprisoned at Dartmoor along with his crew. A major part of the novel is concerned with Dartmoor prison commanded by the evil Royal Navy Captain Shortland. The prison was par for the course for that time period. Similar conditions were found in both Union and Confederate prisons during the American Civil War 50 years later. Deaths from disease were common in active Army and Navy forces, usually higher numbers than battle deaths, and deaths in prisons were undoubtedly higher (smallpox, typhus, etc.). The novel describes the deliberate massacre of American POWs three months after the war ended.Captain Nason, of course, survives (narrators usually survive), meets the woman again, etc.

Lively Lady's protagonist is the son of two of the main characters in the earlier Arundel books: Arundel and Rabble at Arms. While not as epic as either of its precursors, Lively Lady illuminates a little-known episode of this country's history, when our war against Britain in 1812 (in effect a side-action of the Napoleonic Wars) was conducted at sea largely by private vessels licensed by our fledgling government to attack, capture, and destroy Britain's ocean-going commerce. Roberts can come across as a bit stodgy and old-fashioned--and certainly not "politically correct"--to modern readers, but if you make allowances for his writing reflecting his times, you'll be richly rewarded with fascinating details and great storytelling.

Few authors today take such careful pains to be as historically accurate as Roberts does. This is just one more fine example of his masterful skill. In Lively Lady he takes us back to America's "Second War of Independence", the War of 1812. After some preliminary plot foundation-laying and character development you soon feel the swell of the open Atlantic as it lifts your sloop-of-war and carries the reader along with Captain Nason in search of merchant ships of the Crown of King George.