The Seats of the Mighty

by Gilbert Parker

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

Genres: Classics

376 pages, Hardcover

Published August 18, 2008

About the author

Sir Horatio Gilbert George Parker, 1st Baronet PC (1862- 1932), known as Gilbert Parker, Canadian novelist and British politician, was born at Camden East, Addington, Ontario. He was educated at Ottawa and at University of Trinity College at the University of Toronto. Parker started as a teacher at the Ontario School for the deaf and dumb (in Belleville, Ontario). From there he went on to lecture at Trinity College. In 1886 he went to Australia, and became for a while associate editor of the Sydney Morning Herald. He also traveled extensively in the Pacific, Europe, Asia, Egypt, the South Sea Islands and subsequently in northern Canada. In the early nineties he began to make a growing reputation in London as a writer of romantic fiction. The best of his novels are those in which he first took for his subject the history and life of the French Canadians; and his permanent literary reputation rests on the fine quality, descriptive and dramatic, of his Canadian stories. His works include: Mrs Falchion (1893), A Lover's Diary (1894), The Battle of the Strong (1898), The Lane That Had No Turning (1900), The Right of Way (1901), Cumner's Son (1904), The Weavers (1907), Northern Lights (1909), and The Judgment House (1913).

Reviews

[LauraT · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice little booklet on the origins of Canada. With the unmissable love story like Romeo and Juliet that this time ends as it should

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captured during George Washington's surrender to the French at the improvised Fort Necessity, Robert Moray, based on the life of Robert Stobo, is taken to Quebec and tried as a spy. From the Falls of Montmorency to the Plains of Abraham, this historical novel details Quebec of New France shortly before and during the beleaguered city's fate in the French and Indian War. I gave the book five stars for it's depth of characters, who can not love and hate Monsieur Doltaire, as well as for it's detail of the geopolitical landscape during the Seven Years War (A war that Winston Churchill once called The First World War). Gilbert Parker is easily forgiven for his anachronisms as he brings you back in time to the 1750's with rich French and British culture.

[AJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ack! Another romance novel. This was the #3 best seller for 1896. The setting is the Seven Years War in Quebec. The main character is a British Army captain held hostage by the French because he holds some private love letters of the Marquise de Pompadour that she wants back. He falls in love with a 17 year old girl right before he's put into the dungeon. So there is a lot of pining. Eventually his arch enemy, a Machiavellian but likable character, also falls in love with the same girl. Prison lasts about six years which is about half the book. Ugh! Finally he escapes, plots revenge, leads the British to victory and gets his girl back. Lots of long winded superfluous dialog. And lots of it is just confusing. Only the latter 1/3 of the book is interesting.