An Officer’s Genesis

Ensign William Culpepper begins his military career in the Flanders campaign, where the fighting at Boxtel gives him an early lesson in fear, command and battlefield disorder. The story then follows him away from Europe and into the wider imperial war, where service in India exposes him to convoy danger, uncertain allies and conflicts that are not contained by formal battle lines. The novel presents Culpepper’s formation as an officer through combat, correspondence, loyalty and the first recognition that war is fought as much through information and influence as through muskets and drill.