The Baron Returns

Author(s): Graham Ley

Location(s): Brittany

Genre(s): Historical, Fiction

Era(s): Napoleonic

This is the first book in the Wentworth Family saga, about a family living in the Napoleonic times who are involved in Brittany and Devon because the mother, Sempronie, comes from a Breton family and has property there. The plot concerns her son, Justin, who is forced by the British government to go secretly to Brittany to help the rebels there against the French Republic. He has to hide and escape across country with the help of the rebels, and is welcomed by those who lived around his mother’s old manor of Kergohan. In particular, the orphan boy Gilles who has been brought up by Babette is inspired by his example and joins the rebel forces.

The action of the novel takes place in several locations in Brittany, in the chateau town of Josselin and in and around Carnac and Quiberon, in the south. Justin meets the rebel leaders in an ancient stone tomb in the heart of the forest, and is caught up in a battle with the French army. The storyline also embraces a young woman, Josephine, who is attracted to a French army captain, and the two stories link as the captain pursues Justin as a spy. Babette has to meet the captain, to plead for the release of Gilles.

On the other side of the Channel, Justin’s sister Amelia and her friend Arabella, who is in love with Justin, discover a plot against him, and Arabella follows up and investigates the intrigue, ending in an explosive confrontation with an enemy agent. In the end, Justin realizes his debt to her and there is a captivating scene when they meet in the garden of his Devon home on his safe return back to England.

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