Instead of rejoining his regiment, he decides, for reasons that are as unclear to him as they are to the reader, to travel to the Scottish islands, where he has never been. When I read the opening chapter of this book, however, I was convinced – not so much by the historical details, which are applied sparingly but to good effect, but by the combination of precise and uncluttered visuals, human sympathy and language that can be delicate or blunt or visceral as required, but always beautifully modulated. I cared so little that I wasn’t even curious about revelations about the mystery that drove the whole chase (and it was obvious in the middle of the book, I waited for a twist that never came). He may, or may not, have committed some atrocity in the war which he has chosen to banish to the far reaches of his mind. In the course of his journey, Lacroix experiences both the best and worst of humanity, experiencing violence but also the kindness of strangers.

Meanwhile in Spain the English army is pressured to investigate war crimes English soldiers committed in Spanish village, the English and Spanish soldiers are sent to hunt the officer responsible. Recommended to fans of historical fiction and even to sceptics like myself - I think anyone who enjoys a story well-told will find something to love here. But I admit that Miller’s dating surgical handwashing and glaucoma surgery to the early from the mid-nineteenth century of Semmelweis and von Graefe left me slightly disgruntled. The device of a journey allows the author to explore a changing world – the brutalities of early industrialism, despoiled agriculture and millenarian sects.But the focus falls on Emily, whose sight is failing and who fears the loss of her “small independence”. Das sind meine unmittelbaren Gedanken zu dem Buch, eine lange Besprechung erscheint in Kürze - wie bei vielen anderen Büchern hier - auf meinem Blog www. It’s also that when Lacroix does finally confess the full story of what happened in Spain, he reveals a paralysis in himself that we are never entirely convinced has been cured.

For all the world like a profoundly more complex The Thirty-Nine Steps, the novel reconstructs what happens when someone who has always seen themselves as good and law-abiding – in this case John Lacroix, a young commissioned officer and would-be musician from Somerset – is suddenly cast into the role of fugitive. Gradually Lacroix recovers his health, but not his peace of mind - he cannot talk about the war or face the memory of what happened in a village on the gruelling retreat to Corunna.It is difficult not to draw the parallels with the Booker longlisted – Washington Black but this book could not be more different –a grounded, sail-powered, classical boys adventure with a simple and linear storyline rather than a fantastical, steam punk exploration of ideas. The island on which Lacroix settles for a while is initially reported as having no trees, then it has a few trees, then it is treeless.