The Great Shadow and Other Napoleonic Tales

by Arthur Conan Doyle

It is strange to me Jock Calder of West Inch to feel that though now in the very centre of the nineteenth century I am but five-and-fifty years of age and though it is only once in a week perhaps that my wife can pluck out a little grey bristle from over my ear yet I have lived in a time when the thoughts and the ways of men were as different as though it were another planet from this.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Classics, Short Stories, Historical, Adventure, Audiobook

142 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 17, 1892

About the author

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a Scottish writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.

Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feb 23, 830pm ~~ As usual, another one for the review pile. That makes three, so I guess I'd better plan on spending the 24th doing reviews!

Feb 24, 815pm ~~ An interesting little collection of three short stories, this 1892 book continues my personal challenge of reading more of Doyle's historical fiction, which I had discovered a few years ago.

The longest story here is The Great Shadow. In its 15 chapters we become involved in the lives of three people from West Inch Scotland and a mysterious stranger who comes to shore one day.

The war with Napoleon had been dragging on for years, but word is that at last he has been defeated and will be held forever on the island of Elba. Peace is almost a foreign country for the people of Europe at that time, but our Jock, his cousin Emma and his friend John have plans.

But we all know what happens to plans, don't we.

Even though the second tale also dealt with the days of Napoleon's war, The Crime Of The Brigadier was much lighter hearted in tone.

"In all the great hosts of France there was only one officer towards whom the English of Wellington's army retained a deep, steady, and unchangeable hatred. There were plunderers among the French, and men of violence, gamblers, duellists, and roues. All these could be forgiven, for others of their kidney were to be found among the ranks of the English. But one officer of Massena's force had committed a crime which was unspeakable, unheard of, abominable; only to be alluded to with curses late in the evening, when a second bottle had loosened the tongues of men. The news of it was carried back to England, and country gentlemen who knew little of the details of the war grew crimson with passion when they heard of it, and yeomen of the shires raised freckled fists to Heaven and swore."

This first paragraph made me picture all sorts of horrid images, even worse than some of the scenes described in the first story, but as it turned out I was way out in left field with my imagination. But to truly understand the cleverness of the crime (and perhaps the satire of the story as well) the reader should be at least slightly familiar with the most basic rule to follow when riding in a foxhunt.

The final tale was very short, but intense; and a masterful depiction of a skirmish at sea. An English ship has orders to hunt for two French ships. Which one will they find first? The frigate that has been harassing English ships since the end of the war? Or the privateer captained by notorious Hairy Hudson, who had led a mutiny on an English ship some unnamed time before the moment of our story?

You might think a book from so long ago would be wordy and dull in style and while sometimes Doyle can be at least wordy, I did not feel he was in this book. Each story was fast moving and intense, even the second one that had so much more humor than the others. I am very much looking forward to the final three books of this little challenge of mine, wondering what Doyle will offer next.

[Marianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Great Shadow: 4*
The Crime of the Brigadier: 4*
The Slapping Sal: 3*

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Conan Doyle tale set around Napoleon, and this one, unlike Uncle Bernac is not completely taken by storm and dominated by Napoleon whether or not it wanted to be, the way Europe was for a while.

Conan Doyle takes his time getting to the big ticket moments, painting a richly detailed portrait of the boyhood and adolescence of a rural Scots lad whose teenage love triangle is bent out of shape when a refugee from the Napoleonic wars and 'the great shadow' going into temporary exile on Elba walks into his world and walks out with the girl. A spurned fiance vows vengeance against the Frenchman, revealed to be Napleon's aide, Bonaventure de Lissac.

The last third of the novel is taken up by a rousing, incredibly detailed soldier's-eye-view of the battle of Waterloo. Conan Doyle ranked his historical novels as his best work, and frankly there is little in even the Holmes tales to match up to his recreations of historical battles; and he is in fine form here, showing us all the terror, heroism and brutality of war in such immediate, telling terms that it almost feels like a real eye-witness account.

This novel is not without its melodramatic elements, but stands out to me for the loving detail of the opening and closing acts, sections of the novel that stand in stark contrast to each other, yet fit together in the end.

[Joel Robert Ballard · Rating 4 out of 5]

"And as for us, our work was done, for the great shadow had been cleared away from Europe, and should no longer be thrown across the breadth of the lands, over peaceful farms and little villages, darkening the lives which should have been so happy."
— Arthur Conan Doyle


For select writers there is nothing dark or shadowy about their work. It is bright and glassy and refreshing. And it is most refreshing to also come upon a work that is penned by a renowned physician, sportsman, poet, politician, justicer, spiritualist, campaigner, and adventurer. And who is also the famed British writer, Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle.

What is more satisfying? That his well-composed piece does not focus on his most famous fictional character, the detective Sherlock Holmes, but instead, centers around a character of no particular talents, or brilliance, but is a simple country boy with an uncommitted plan for his future. Also, it is a story that wonderfully reaches out to its reader with tales of romance, love triangles, male camaraderie & betrayal, heroism & war, power of wealth, entitlement, and social class. It is called The Great Shadow .

"...the fear of that man hung like a black shadow over all Europe, and that there was a time when the glint of a fire at night upon the coast would set every woman upon her knees and every man gripping for his musket. He had always won: that was the terror of it."

Also known as The Great Shadow and other Napoleonic Tales , it was published in 1892, and provides a unique, personal account of a simple country family, their neighbors, and their friends, during the Napoleonic War Era. There, in a small coastal town called West Inch, located on the English–Scottish border, the story follows its narrator Jack Colder, as he reflects, first on memories as a young boy, then through life in a Jesuit boarding school, to ultimately his participation in one of history’s most infamous battles. And like any good historical novel, the author understates the historical aspects of the story setting and doesn’t let it distract from the true focus: on the characters, their passions, their frailties, their aspirations, their obsessions, and their humanity. Like any good yarn it is about those special, memorable moments of life and death. That existence can go immutable for years, and then suddenly, ironically, find dramatic change in just a few hours.


"One gets past being afraid or thinking of one's own skin after a while, and you just feel that you want to make some one pay for all you have gone through. We took our change out of the lancers that time; for they had no breastplates to shield them ... Maybe, if we could have seen 70 mothers weeping for their lads, we should not have felt so pleased over it".

This novel (short at just 100 pages) offers at lot, but it satisfies even more. It does it simply and plainly. For it is the modest, unassuming consistency of style that Conan Doyle routinely offers, with his poetic delivery, his smart narrative trajectory, and mostly, his special gift for providing those well designed and timely surprise revelations (as revealed best with his detective stories), that really enhances this novel's allure. And of all the characteristics and genre’s this story covers, there is that additional small dash of mystery as well. Predictability finds no shadows to hide in or surprise a reader from here. It is bright and glassy and refreshing.


“... I was like the man who set forth to lay hands upon the rainbow, and that the real Edie Calder, however near she might seem, was in truth for ever beyond my reach".

[Daniel Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook. Though it was written in 1892, the English used wasn't old-style as I expected. Even so, it was kind of a drab book, Napoleon being the "shadow" and the book ending at Waterloo. Maybe if the narrator didn't sound so much like Garrison Keeler, it would've been more appealing. I just felt it never developed and the author should've just stuck with Sherlock Holmes books.

[Fr. Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first started reading this book, I was bored by the pitiful teenage romance, but I kept reading with the promise of war on the horizon. I'm glad I did. Doyle fashioned a fantastic novel here moving out of the detective fiction we know him for and into historical fiction. He did a great job of communicating a story of an average boy who because of extraordinary circumstances fights in the Battle of Waterloo.

If you enjoy good fiction, historical fiction in particular you will enjoy this book.

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Napoleonic classic from Doyle, no Sherlock Holmes here. The narrator, Jock, tells all about his life as a child, his cousin's first visit to thier home, his best friend, thier strange visitor many years later, and his eventually becoming a soldier.....

[Chiara Polimeni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fino ad ora, del re del giallo, Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle, avevo letto appunto solo di quel genere (“Le avventure di Sherlock Holmes” rimangono attualmente tra le mie letture preferite). Ammetto quindi che mi ha stupito molto leggere un qualcosa di diverso scritto da questo autore, anzi probabilmente questa sua opera è anche molto più vecchia delle avventure del famoso detective londinese e lo si nota proprio dallo stile di scrittura. Il modo di raccontare, i termini usati, sono evidentemente di un’altra epoca; le frasi, se lette a mezza voce, suonano più armoniose per via della scelta delle parole (una “L” al posto di una “R”, parole troncate dell’ultima vocale, ecc.).
Posso dire tranquillamente che questo stile di scrittura molto classico l’ho sempre apprezzato, soprattutto se usato da un vero maestro.

Sulla narrazione posso dire che, Arthur Conan Doyle, ha mantenuto sempre lo stesso stile con il passare degli anni. Il manoscritto (molto vecchio) che ho letto io ha tre storie al suo interno (tra cui ovviamente “La grande ombra”) e due di queste tre sono scritte nel classico stile prima persona al passato, proprio come Watson racconta in prima persone le avventure del suo coinquilino e compagno di avventure.
“La grande ombra” ci viene raccontata dallo stesso Jack, che spesso si rivolge direttamente a noi, dicendo che non vorrebbe tediarci con certi racconti superflui. L’altra raccontata in prima persona è l’ultima, il racconto de “La pietra nera”, che è anche l’unica storia staccata dalla battaglia di Waterloo (sarei curiosa di sapere perché è stata inserita nel libro), che ci viene raccontata anche qui dal protagonista, il signor Jephson, e che vede il racconto di cosa accadde sulla Maria Celeste in cui lui fu l’unico sopravvissuto. Infine il racconto nel mezzo, narrato in terza persona, vede l’ultima battaglia, quella contro la vecchiaia, di un veterano della battaglia di Waterloo intitolata “Un ‘disperso’ del 1815”.

Posso dire che sono rimasta per parecchio tempo indecisa su come valutare questa lettura. Nonostante mi piaccia molto lo stile di scrittura di Arthur Conan Doyle, i romanzi prettamente storici non mi hanno mai smosso nulla e continuano a non farmi impazzire. “La grande ombra”, purtroppo, non fa eccezione e, per quanto sia stata una lettura alquanto scorrevole, posso dire che in certi punti mi ha particolarmente annoiato. Di contro, però, l’ultima storia quella de “La pietra nera”, l’ho apprezzata parecchio, visto che l’autore è riuscito a costruire un racconto attorno al destino della Mary Celeste, un brigantino canadese che ha davvero perso misteriosamente tutti i suoi passeggeri (potete cercare informazioni su Wikipedia). In quest’ultimo racconto, infatti, si nota la capacità dell’autore di costruire un mistero e un giallo, genere che poi l’ha portato al successo.
In ogni caso, questo libro, rimane nella mia libreria, prima di tutto perché è quasi un cimelio (il libro più vecchio che ho, visto che è una stampa del 1957) e poi perché l’ho scelto personalmente a “scatola chiusa”, se così si può dire, dalla libreria della mia vecchia pro-zia, quando l’abbiamo dovuta svuotare.

[Arzu Onuklu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sherlock holmes serisini bu kitabı okuyarak tamamlamış oldum. Kesinlikle süper hikayelerdi. "Emekleyen Adam " adlı hikaye de Watson'un Holmes'un alıskanlıklarından bir tanesi olmuştum demesine üzüldüm. Evet Watson geri planda kalsa ve Holmes gibi çıkarım yapamasa da Holmes için alışkanlıktan öte gerçek dostuydu şahsen ben öyle düşünüyorum. Devamında ki Aslan Yelesi adlı hikayede Holmes'un emeklilik günleri ve arıcılık hobisine değiniyor ve orda Watson'un yanında fazla bulunmadığına üzülüyor -evet hikayeyi kaydetmediğine üzülüyor gibi görünse de içten içe dostunun eksikliğine üzülüyor-.Benim için Holmes ve Watson ayrı düşünülmesi zor bir ikili... Aslan Yelesi adlı hikayeyi de bu nedenle Holmes'un ağzından dinliyoruz. Sonuçta gene güzeldi Sherlock Holmes'un zekasına gene hayran kaldım. Bu hikayelerden en etkilendiğim Thor Köprüsü oldu. Nefretin bir insana neler yaptırabileceğini gösteren bir hikaye idi.


Karantina günlerinde Holmes evrenine sığındım tavsiye ederim. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; size minnettarım. Poirottan sonra en sevdiğim dedektifi yazdığınız için... müthiş bir zeka örneği

[Umut Çalışan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kitap 10 adet, Holmes tarafından çözülmüş hikayeden oluşuyor. Ana kurgu gereği olaylardan biri hariç hepsi, çözüldükten sonra, Holmes'in en yakın arkadaşı, ortağı ve aynı zamanda biyografi yazarı olan Dr. John Watson tarafından kaleme alınmış. (Bazı kaynaklar Dr. Watson'un bizzat Sir Arthur Conan Doyle'nin kendisi olduğundan bahsediyor.) sadece son olayı Holmes'in ağzından dinliyoruz.

Hal böyle olunca maceralar anlık aksiyondan kısmen uzak kalmış. Yani alışıldık polisiyelerde olduğu gibi kahramanlarla birlikte olayın içine girip katili kovalamıyoruz. Biz hiç görmeden, farkında olmadan Holmes bir yerlere girip çıkıyor, ardından eşsiz gözlem ve çıkarımda bulunma yeteneği ile yan yana koyduğu verileri değerlendirip, sonuca ulaştıktan sonra kısa bir brifing ile bizleri aydınlatıyor. http://www.umutcalisan.com/2017/07/go...

[Christopher Taylor]

I gave this one my best effort, and usually I really like Doyle, but it just did not work for me. Most of his historical books have a slow start but are definitely worth the effort but this one just is too slow, too dull, and too missing the edge of likable, interesting characters that he usually has.

[Lavender · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tale of a boy who grew up to be a man and along the way found romance and war.

[Mohammad Alamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excelent Story 💕💕💕

[MrDritus · Rating 4 out of 5]

przeczytana po polsku

[İrem Gençer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her öykü birbirinden daha güzel ve daha heyecanlı. Okumaktan hiç sıkılmayacağım bir seri.

[Ellen Church · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a ripping yarn! The man could clearly write, Sherlock Holmes was no anomaly. Dig out a copy and see for yourself.

[Daniel Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read about the Napoleonic era from an interesting perspective.

[Seda Yetik · Rating 2 out of 5]

12 hikayeden olusuyor. Hikayenin icine girip katili birlikte bulmuyoruz, cozmuyoruz. Her sey olmus bitmis, biz raporlari okuyoruz gibi 😏

[Malg Osia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Zdecydowanie przydługa. Momentami nudna, momentami naciągana, momentami (nielicznymi) całkiem ciekawa

[Senvido · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nigdy nie przepadałem za Sherlockiem Holmesem i trochę sceptycznie podchodziłem do tej książki, jednak niesłusznie: dobra książka wojenno-obyczajowa.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book consists of the novella The Great Shadow together with the short stories The Crime of the Brigadier and The "Slapping Sal". The short stories have been anthologised many times, but the novella was a surprisingly good. Set mainly in Scotland, The Great Shadow started off like a simplified Walter Scott story, then went up a tempo as it shifted scenes to the Battle of Waterloo, with some nicely drawn characters on the way. The Crime of the Brigadier has probably been in print most often, as it is one of the oft-reprinted and excellent Brigadier Gerard stories. The "Slapping Sal" has also appeared in a number of collections. Altogether, an enjoyable, if rather quick read.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

One realizes again what a great writer Sir Arthur was when you read something else by him other than a Sherlock Holmes yarn. This is a wonderful suspense/adventure/romance/historical novel. I read it in French because I had an old copy lying around that I had never finished but I ordered the English original in a compendium of other stories and believe I'll read it again in companionship with the other two stories in Doyle's "Napoleonic trilogy."

[Dane Cobain · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of Conan Doyle's lesser-known works, but that doesn't mean it's not worth reading - in fact, his tale of love and war is beautifully well-written, vivid and alive despite the fact that the Napoleonic Wars ended 44 years before Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was even born.

Most of the manuscript is dedicated to the titular story, but you can expect to enjoy a couple of shorter stories at the end - still, The Great Shadow is the main attraction here, and you're going to enjoy it.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story of a boy growing up in Scotland, his relationships with his beautiful cousin, his strong and handsome best friend, and an interesting stranger who comes to their little waterside farm village and changes all their lives forever. We see the boy grow into a soldier who fights in the Battle of Waterloo, and gives us his interesting insights on it. (I listened to this as a free audiobook downloaded from Librivox.org.)

[Jeronimo · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first story, which takes most part of the book, begins as a sort of romantic adventure. However, in my opinion it goes too long in descriptions and leaves too Little for action. Nevertheless, it keeps the reader focused on the story.
Maybe is a different genre from the one you could expect from Conan Doyle, or perhaps it is me who does not know that well Sir Arthur.

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boy grows up to fight Napoleon at Waterloo. An old-fashioned adventure about friendship, love, and patriotism - and the disappointments and betrayals found in all. Finding the "enemy" to be heroic men - the ironies of war. Maybe not a dazzler, but a solid tale nonetheless.

[Carol Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting main story set in the time of the Napoleonic Wars. A mix between a war story and a love story. I didn't enjoy the "Other Tales" as much as The Great Shadow.

[ferri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed listening and reading of this book. Good book for practicing of English.

[Arteis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as his Brigadier Gerard stories, but still a lovely read.