7 h 33 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 33 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the bravest man in Napoleon’s army is also the least reliable judge of his own glory?
In Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Gerard, Etienne Gerard faces near-impossible missions with courage, luck and boundless faith in himself. A French cavalry officer devoted to Napoleon, he wants honor and the Emperor’s praise. Across Europe’s campaigns, danger gives him every chance to prove his bravery—and display his vanity.
Gerard tells these stand-alone tales as an old soldier, often among friends in a café. His cheerful boasting brings the dust and danger close, while the reader spots jokes he misses. Napoleon commands his loyalty, his fellow hussars share the risks, and pride turns daring adventure into dry comedy.
What you’ll discover
- Meet Gerard, glorious in his eyes Spend time with a brave, vain hussar whose confidence never seems to falter.
- A soldier’s extraordinary luck Follow difficult missions where courage and wild luck carry Gerard through the danger.
- Napoleon behind every tale See the Emperor through the eyes of a soldier hungry for his praise.
- Honor meets comic pride Enjoy the gap between Gerard’s proud account and what you can see for yourself.
- Old friends at the café Settle into a relaxed storytelling frame that lets each adventure stand on its own.
Who will love it
You will love this if you enjoy swashbuckling tales, cavalry charges, duels and daring escapes, or if you like a narrator whose boasting makes you smile and whose heart is warm.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Venetian note leads to a secret court
- A new captain must win over his comrades
- Gerard hunts a fox and angers England
- One man must light the beacon on the mountain
- A prisoner in England finds sport and a lady in trouble
- Marshal Ney sends Gerard for corn at Minsk
- At Waterloo Gerard is trapped in a forest inn
- A last adventure sails for St Helena
- A vain narrator who still moves us
Who’s who
- Etienne GerardThe boastful, gallant colonel of the Hussars of Conflans, who tells his adventures in a Paris café and trusts his luck and his sabre.
- LuciaA beautiful Venetian from a great family, loved by Gerard and promised to another man, whose love brings danger to them both.
- Marshal MassenaThe one-eyed French commander in Portugal who trusts Gerard with scouting and beacon missions during the long winter at Torres Vedras.
- Aloysius de PombalA Portuguese lieutenant in the guerrilla chief's band, with a scarred back and his own private plan against the Smiler.
- Lord RuftonGerard's generous English host at High Combe, who loves sport and is ready to ride out to rescue his sister.
- SophieA dark-eyed Russian priest's daughter who helps Gerard in a village near Minsk and has a loyalty to her country that he does not see.
- Count SteinA Prussian officer and the hardest rider in his army, chosen at Waterloo to lead a band of nine horsemen on a secret mission.
- Captain FourneauA scarred, tattooed sea captain in Napoleon's cause who recruits Gerard for a mysterious voyage aboard the brig Black Swan.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 7 h 33 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Le avventure di Gérard
by Arthur Conan Doyle · 1903
A Hussar colonel answers a lady's urgent note and finds himself trapped in a gondola with a sack over his head.
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In short
What danger waits at the end of a midnight gondola ride? Etienne Gerard, a vain and fearless colonel of Hussars, tells his adventures in a Paris café.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Venetian note leads to a secret court
The first tale begins in Venice, where French troops hold the city and many officers vanish during the winter. Gerard, aide to General Suchet, is in love with Lucia, who comes from a great Venetian family. One evening a note arrives, apparently from her, begging him to come at once. A gondola waits at the door.
He forgets his pistols, leans back in the boat and daydreams about glory. Then the huge gondolier falls on him from behind, drags a sack over his head and ties it tight. Gerard is carried into a palace, where he escapes his captors, bursts through a pair of doors and finds twelve masked judges. They are angry about stolen paintings and about a Frenchman who dared to love a Venetian.
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What is The Adventures of Gerard about?
It is a set of tales told by Etienne Gerard, an old French cavalry colonel, about his adventures in Napoleon's wars, from Venice and Spain to Russia and Waterloo, with plenty of humor and danger.
Is Brigadier Gerard a real person?
No. Gerard is an imaginary hero whose military world draws on real memoirs by soldiers of the time.
Do I need to know Napoleonic history to enjoy it?
Not at all. Each tale is a self-contained adventure with a clear plot, and Gerard's lively storytelling explains battles, places and people as he goes, so the stories are easy to follow.
The author
Arthur Conan Doyle
1859–1930 · British detective novelist
Arthur Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician born in Edinburgh in 1859. He practised medicine in England and wrote novels, short stories and histories. His Sherlock Holmes stories began with A Study in Scarlet in 1887. He also wrote The Lost World in 1912. He died in Crowborough, England, in 1930.
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