One of the Six Hundred: A Novel

About the book

Lieutenant Newton Norcliff begins his account with a month's leave, granted just as his lancer regiment prepares for foreign service. Traveling north to Scotland, he remembers the mother who died during his absence and wonders what has become of his youthful attachment to his cousin Cora. The homecoming therefore promises comfort while exposing how much time and military life have changed. James Grant joins the domestic romance to an officer's experience of regimental routines and the approaching conflict with Russia. The title places the famous cavalry charge within the horizon of a more extensive personal story. Told as a participant's retrospective narrative, the novel balances anticipation of public action with the unresolved private affairs that a soldier cannot simply leave behind when orders arrive.

• Homecoming and memory
• Love and military service
• Private life and history

Why read it

Norcliff's railway journey establishes the losses and attachments that accompany him into the military story.

English text of the 1875 George Routledge and Sons edition