VITTORIA

About the Book

“Vittoria” has been written as a sequel to “The Leopard Wakes” which is an adventure/romance novel covering the Napoleonic wars from 1803 onwards. "Vittoria" starts at the disastrous retreat from Corunna, Spain, in January 1809. The main players are as follows:-

1. Artillery captain Jonathan West. He is attracted to Julia Brooks, a London socialite who does not know her own mind. Jonathan, despite being injured at Corunna, is still idealistic about pursuing the war against Napoleon and is influenced by his uncle, a colonel in the war department. For this reason he returns to Spain on special duties and then as a serving officer with his regiment.

2. Julia Brooks, sole daughter of a Chelsea broker. She is an accomplished horsewoman and has a wide circle of friends in England  and Ireland.Initially she is attracted to Jonathan but her affection wavers during his prolonged absences in Spain and Portugal. Julia is swept off her feet by a family friend Hector Grant who becomes Jonathan’s commanding officer.

3. Hector Grant, widower and family friend of the Brooks family. He is an ambitious regular officer who succeeds in obtaining command of the horse artillery regiment and tries to steal Julia’s affections from Jonathan. Not popular with his men he is a blatant womaniser and has a dubious reputation at the gaming tables. He always sees Jonathan as a rival and this is reflected in his attitude to his junior officer.

4. Jacqueline Duval, daughter of a judge in Bordeaux. She is grateful to Jonathan, initially, for her rescue from Spanish guerrillas but this emotion becomes something more interesting between the two of them and the ending of the book is not what the reader might expect

About the Author

Derek Cheney completed three years of his national service in the British Royal Navy serving as a commissioned officer in the Volunteer Reserve. He is interested in military history, sailing and writing and lives with his wife, Margaret, at St. Mawes, Cornwall in the southwest of England. He discovered that much has been written of Trafalgar and Waterloo but little has been said of other military adventures of the Napoleonic period. Many people have heard of Sir John Moore and Corunna without realising the background details which led to this earlier British "Dunkirk" type of evacuation. Derek lays great emphasis on the factual content of historical fiction and regards accuracy in this respect as paramount. A sequel the "The Leopard Wakes" continuing the adventures of Captain Jonathan West has now been written and covers the remainder of the Peninsular War from 1809 to 1813. It is entitled "Vittoria" and will also be available from Xlibris, Philadelphia.