Book
The Great Shadow
First published 1892
On the Scottish Borders, Jock Calder grows up beside his friend Jim Horscroft and their cousin Edie, with youthful rivalry and romance occupying their attention while the wars against Napoleon seem distant. The return of Napoleon from Elba changes that world abruptly, drawing private ambitions into the renewed European conflict.
Jock and Jim enter military service and the story culminates in the Waterloo campaign. Conan Doyle presents the battle through the limited view of men inside its confusion, combining a remembered coming-of-age story with the shock of a generation suddenly caught beneath the 'great shadow' of Napoleon.
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