The Complete Brigadier Gerard Stories

by Arthur Conan Doyle, Owen Dudley Edwards (Editor), Owen Dudley Edwards (Introduction)

Overview

Mon Dieu! The extraordinary, sabre-rattling adventures of Gerard, a young French cavalry officer in the time of the Napoleonic wars, introduce a hero who will be adored by fans of Flashman and Sherlock Holmes alike. Gathered here in one edition are both volumes of Conan Doyle's much loved tales, which will delight modern readers with their absurdist humour, infectious warmth and swash-buckling energy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781847679192
Publisher:	Canongate Books
Publication date:	08/05/2010
Edition description:	Main
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was born in Edinburgh. Educated by the Jesuits at Stonyhurst, Doyle entered the medical school at Edinburgh University in 1876, working as a doctor's assistant at times to help pay the fees. He graduated in 1881 and, after Greenland and African voyages as a ship's doctor, went into practice at Southsea, Portsmouth.

Conan Doyle had started to write while he was a medical student, and at twenty he had a story published in Chamber's journal. Sherlock Holmes first appeared in A Study in Scarlet (1887), and from 1891 he featured regularly in stories for the Strand Magazine.

To replace Holmes, Conan Doyle created Etienne Gerard, a young French cavalry officer from the time of the Napoleonic Wars, whose memoirs were collected as The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard (1896) and its sequel, Adventures of Gerard.

Knighted in 1902, Conan Doyle produced more than 60 books in the course of his career, including songs, poetry and historical fiction in the spirit of Scott. But his greatest literary achievement lay in his short stories, unrivalled in the mingling of character, action and atmosphere, whether Holmesian or Gerardine.

Date of Birth:

May 22, 1859

Date of Death:

July 7, 1930

Place of Birth:

Edinburgh, Scotland

Place of Death:

Crowborough, Sussex, England

Education:

Edinburgh University, B.M., 1881; M.D., 1885

What People are Saying About This

John Le Carre

Conan Doyle for thrust and instant atmosphere.

Winston Churchill

Of course I read every Sherlock Holmes story, but the work I like even more than the detective stories is [Conan Doyle's] great historical fiction...

Julian Symons

Brigadier Gerard is, after Holmes and Watson, Conan Doyle's most successful literary creation.

Editorial Reviews

Whether rescuing damsels in destress or duelling with adversaries, Gerard is an utterly preposterous hero, and brave to the point of stupidity in these irresistible swashbucklers.

Tatler

Conan Doyle for thrust and instant atmosphere.

John le Carré

Brigadier Gerard is, after Holmes and Watson, Conan Doyle's most successful literary creation.

Julian Symons

The Brigadier Gerard stories display all the narrative gusto of Doyle's more famous Sherlock Holmes, together with an irresistible warmth and humour. The Brigadier himself, bristling with valour and self-regard, is the most preposterous and delightful of companions.

Philip Pullman

Of course I read every Sherlock Holmes story, but the works I like even more than the detective stories are his great historical stories.

Winston Churchill

"In its pages you will find adventure, action, romance, love and self-sacrifice, hair's-breadth escape and reckless courage, gallantry, panache and a droll, backhand humor that rivals that of P.G. Wodehouse. You will also find yourself, even more than with the celebrated stories of Holmes and Watson, in the hands of an indisputable artist. For more than any other adventure stories I know, these stories have a power to move the reader. . . . unjustly forgotten tales by a great master."  —Michael Chabon for NPR's You Must Read This

"The Brigadier Gerard stories display all the narrative gusto of Doyle's more famous Sherlock Holmes, together with an irresistible warmth and humour."  —Philip Pullman

"Of course I read every Sherlock Holmes story, but the works I like even more than the detective stories are his great historical stories."  —Winston Churchill

From the Publisher