Customer Reviews

The Chevalier

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#7: 1669-1718: Covers the Glorious Revolution; the Act of Union; the 1715 Rebellion

In 1689, Annunciata Morland goes into exile with James II. Her sons Karellie and Maurice go to Italy, while back at home at Morland Place, her grandson, Matt, is the family patriarch, marrying the cruel and heartless India Neville. It's a marriage from which nothing good can come. The story covers nearly 30 years, up through the Scottish rebellion in 1715, with James Stuart the "Pretender," or "Chevalier"--depending on which side you're on.

Finally, the Morland Dynasty series makes it through the 17th century and into the 18th. The 17th century isn't a particular favorite, and the character of Annunciata Morland isn't a particularly appealing one, so I'm sort of glad that her story is mostly over. And even when she was in her fifties and sixties, she was still running around like a much younger woman. Matt's also not really a favorite character, since he allows India to push him around most of the time and displays none of the strength that previous Morlands have. So this, the seventh book in the series, isn't a particular favorite, but I still like how Cynthia Harrod-Eagles brings historical events to life. I'm interested to move on to The Maiden, book 8, which opens on the eve of the South Sea Bubble.

This is the fascinating book 7 in the saga of the Morland family. As always, totally loyal to the reigning monarch, the Morland family supports the last of the Stuarts with Annunciata joining the King in permanent exile in France. She is now 70 years old and feels it, with deaths,births and imprisonment of various members of her family. These books are a marvellous way to absorb British history by matching the lives of the Morlands with the reigning monarchs and relating their involvement with the royals and the aristocracy of the country. In this volume, Annunciata's son, Karellie is on the verge of being hanged, drawn and quartered for his support of the Stuart line, over the new Hanoverian, George Lewis, and it is only thanks to an escape plan by his family that he manages to flee to France. Annunciata's grandson, Matt, has an arranged marriage forced upon him during Annunciata's exile in France, which proves disastrous and threatens his very sanity. This is another very satisfactory chapter in the lives of the Morland family and I look forward to the next!