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Roger Brook #7
The Sultan's Daughter
Feb 1798 - 31 Dec 1799
'Had it not been for Zanthé there is little doubt that at the age of thirty-one Roger Brook would have died in Palestine.' Roger Brook, Prime Minister Pitt's most resourceful secret agent. Zanthé, exotic, loving and hating with equal intensity; daughter of the Sultan and beautiful.
Napoleon's army; victorious in Egypt but trapped by Nelson's fleet, besieging Acre, ravaged by plague. At the heart of the French counsels – Roger Brook. A vital position for England. A deadly dangerous one for him.
'Had it not been for Zanthé there is little doubt that at the age of thirty-one Roger Brook would have died in Palestine.' Roger Brook, Prime Minister Pitt's most resourceful secret agent. Zanthé, exotic, loving and hating with equal intensity; daughter of the Sultan and beautiful.
Napoleon's army; victorious in Egypt but trapped by Nelson's fleet, besieging Acre, ravaged by plague. At the heart of the French counsels – Roger Brook. A vital position for England. A deadly dangerous one for him.
510 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1963
6 people are currently reading
86 people want to read
About the author
Dennis Wheatley
382 books249 followersDennis Yates Wheatley (8 January 1897 – 10 November 1977) [Born: Dennis Yeats Wheatley] was an English author. His prolific output of stylish thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors in the 1950s and 1960s.
His first book, Three Inquisitive People, was not immediately published; but his first published novel, The Forbidden Territory, was an immediate success when published in 1933, being reprinted seven times in seven weeks.
He wrote adventure stories, with many books in a series of linked works. His plots covered the French Revolution (Roger Brook Series), Satanism (Duc de Richleau), World War II (Gregory Sallust) and espionage (Julian Day).
In the thirties, he conceived a series of whodunit mysteries, presented as case files, with testimonies, letters, pieces of evidence such as hairs or pills. The reader had to go through the evidence to solve the mystery before unsealing the last pages of the file, which gave the answer. Four of these 'Crime Dossiers' were published: Murder Off Miami, Who Killed Robert Prentice, The Malinsay Massacre, and Herewith The Clues.
In the 1960s his publishers were selling a million copies of his books per year. A small number of his books were made into films by Hammer, of which the best known is The Devil Rides Out (book 1934, film 1968). His writing is very descriptive and in many works he manages to introduce his characters into real events while meeting real people. For example, in the Roger Brook series the main character involves himself with Napoleon, and Joséphine whilst being a spy for the Prime Minister William Pitt. Similarly, in the Gregory Sallust series, Sallust shares an evening meal with Hermann Göring.
He also wrote non-fiction works, including accounts of the Russian Revolution and King Charles II, and his autobiography. He was considered an authority on the supernatural, satanism, the practice of exorcism, and black magic, to all of which he was hostile. During his study of the paranormal, though, he joined the Ghost Club.
From 1974 through 1977 he edited a series of 45 paperback reprints for the British publisher Sphere under the heading "The Dennis Wheatley Library of the Occult", selecting the titles and writing short introductions for each book. This series included both occult-themed novels by the likes of Bram Stoker and Aleister Crowley and non-fiction works on magic, occultism, and divination by authors such as the Theosophist H. P. Blavatsky, the historian Maurice Magre, the magician Isaac Bonewits, and the palm-reader Cheiro.
Two weeks before his death in November 1977, Wheatley received conditional absolution from his old friend Cyril ‘Bobby’ Eastaugh, the Bishop of Peterborough.
His estate library was sold in a catalogue sale by Basil Blackwell's in the 1970s, indicating a thoroughly well-read individual with wide-ranging interests particularly in historical fiction and Europe. His influence has declined, partly due to difficulties in reprinting his works owing to copyright problems.
Fifty-two of Wheatley's novels were published posthumously in a set by Heron Books UK. More recently, in April 2008 Dennis Wheatley's literary estate was acquired by media company Chorion.
He invented a number of board games including Invasion.
-Wikipedia
His first book, Three Inquisitive People, was not immediately published; but his first published novel, The Forbidden Territory, was an immediate success when published in 1933, being reprinted seven times in seven weeks.
He wrote adventure stories, with many books in a series of linked works. His plots covered the French Revolution (Roger Brook Series), Satanism (Duc de Richleau), World War II (Gregory Sallust) and espionage (Julian Day).
In the thirties, he conceived a series of whodunit mysteries, presented as case files, with testimonies, letters, pieces of evidence such as hairs or pills. The reader had to go through the evidence to solve the mystery before unsealing the last pages of the file, which gave the answer. Four of these 'Crime Dossiers' were published: Murder Off Miami, Who Killed Robert Prentice, The Malinsay Massacre, and Herewith The Clues.
In the 1960s his publishers were selling a million copies of his books per year. A small number of his books were made into films by Hammer, of which the best known is The Devil Rides Out (book 1934, film 1968). His writing is very descriptive and in many works he manages to introduce his characters into real events while meeting real people. For example, in the Roger Brook series the main character involves himself with Napoleon, and Joséphine whilst being a spy for the Prime Minister William Pitt. Similarly, in the Gregory Sallust series, Sallust shares an evening meal with Hermann Göring.
He also wrote non-fiction works, including accounts of the Russian Revolution and King Charles II, and his autobiography. He was considered an authority on the supernatural, satanism, the practice of exorcism, and black magic, to all of which he was hostile. During his study of the paranormal, though, he joined the Ghost Club.
From 1974 through 1977 he edited a series of 45 paperback reprints for the British publisher Sphere under the heading "The Dennis Wheatley Library of the Occult", selecting the titles and writing short introductions for each book. This series included both occult-themed novels by the likes of Bram Stoker and Aleister Crowley and non-fiction works on magic, occultism, and divination by authors such as the Theosophist H. P. Blavatsky, the historian Maurice Magre, the magician Isaac Bonewits, and the palm-reader Cheiro.
Two weeks before his death in November 1977, Wheatley received conditional absolution from his old friend Cyril ‘Bobby’ Eastaugh, the Bishop of Peterborough.
His estate library was sold in a catalogue sale by Basil Blackwell's in the 1970s, indicating a thoroughly well-read individual with wide-ranging interests particularly in historical fiction and Europe. His influence has declined, partly due to difficulties in reprinting his works owing to copyright problems.
Fifty-two of Wheatley's novels were published posthumously in a set by Heron Books UK. More recently, in April 2008 Dennis Wheatley's literary estate was acquired by media company Chorion.
He invented a number of board games including Invasion.
-Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 22, 2023
Wow brilliant storytelling in an epic globetrotting tale. Impeccably researched. I just love how well this story is put down on paper! It was so hard to have to put this book down. The first six chapters are an adventure of non stop tension. I almost wanted to skip ahead to avoid the tension and make sure the main character got out ok. The themes in this book range in many.
Beginning at the dinning table with her childhood friend, a young man called Roger talks of why he must travel abroad as a spy even at the strong cost of his life.
We are taken to sea aboard a small sloop whose captain agrees to carry Roger across the shores of France. He explores the ship, getting to know the crew before a call rings out of the sighting of a large warship in the distance. Here's where the danger and the tension begins.
The descriptions from the writer are impeccable in creating a scene. Interwoven with the narrative are true facts of the time or characters which Roger is meeting.
Non stop thrills as he tries to edge his way out of the clutches of them enemy. Using his false identity to convince the French that he his one of them proves quite difficult before he finds he is sentenced to death. I was sweating and gripping the page waiting to see what would happen.
At the last stroke fate let's him off as he reunites with an old friend. I was so drawn in to the previous scene that I couldn't wait to see the men who sentenced him pay...
After meeting with his friend Napoleon, he is taken away along with his armies to fight in the battle of the pyramids.
He meets famous historical characters. Falls deeply in love. Gets involved in battles. Captured and tortured.
And wow what an ending! Racing across sea and country to visit his dying friend. Doing what he can to help cure her ail. Then finishing off by ushering in the next century, the year 1800
Great
Beginning at the dinning table with her childhood friend, a young man called Roger talks of why he must travel abroad as a spy even at the strong cost of his life.
We are taken to sea aboard a small sloop whose captain agrees to carry Roger across the shores of France. He explores the ship, getting to know the crew before a call rings out of the sighting of a large warship in the distance. Here's where the danger and the tension begins.
The descriptions from the writer are impeccable in creating a scene. Interwoven with the narrative are true facts of the time or characters which Roger is meeting.
Non stop thrills as he tries to edge his way out of the clutches of them enemy. Using his false identity to convince the French that he his one of them proves quite difficult before he finds he is sentenced to death. I was sweating and gripping the page waiting to see what would happen.
At the last stroke fate let's him off as he reunites with an old friend. I was so drawn in to the previous scene that I couldn't wait to see the men who sentenced him pay...
After meeting with his friend Napoleon, he is taken away along with his armies to fight in the battle of the pyramids.
He meets famous historical characters. Falls deeply in love. Gets involved in battles. Captured and tortured.
And wow what an ending! Racing across sea and country to visit his dying friend. Doing what he can to help cure her ail. Then finishing off by ushering in the next century, the year 1800
Great
June 25, 2017
So I was at the station without a book to read and I picked up this as I recall my Dad enjoying Dennis Wheatley books back in the day, although they were usually horror stories. This is book seven in a series set during the Napoleonic Wars about a xenophobic, misogynist, cowardly murdering rapist. Initially I thought we had a sort of anti hero/Flashman thing going on. I soldiered on, waiting for the protagonist to get his comeuppance. Then it dawned on me. This book is contemporaneous with the Bond novels when rape was acceptable because women like it even if they say they don't and the British really thought they were superior. Horrid little novel which hopefully will never see the light of day again.
Read
February 2, 2024The Seventh of the Roger Brook series
April 15, 2013
I am a Dennis Wheatly fanatic. I regard the Duke De Richleau and his "Modern Musketeers" as some of the most interesting in all adventure literature, the "Scarlet Imposter", Gregory Sallust as the most kick-ass secret agent that ever appeared between covers, and the "Roger Brook" series as one of the most entertaining historical sagas ever penned. "The Sultan's Daughter" is no exception to this rule - it's a great read, full of twists and turns, that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
So why the one star, you ask? It's like this.
I am in no way overly obsessed with political correctness, and when reading Wheatley I've long ago learned to handwave his less likeable opinions - Wheatley believed that one Englishman was worth fifty wogs, the poor were put there by God and had better suck it up and respect their betters and gays had no right to live. Fair enough, I'm willing to grit my teeth and accept that in Wheatley's heyday these ideas were acceptable, even mainstream.
But sometimes, you can go too far.
The eponymous "sultan's daughter" is a girl who is being menaced by French soldiers and rescued by the noble Roger Brook. But Brook does not simply comfort her and set her free - no, he takes ownership (even using that exact word himself), regards his having saved her as giving him the right to rape her, and does so, in as violent and humiliating a manner as possible. Furthermore, Wheatley even expects us to sympathize with Brook, on the grounds that it was normal in the Napoleonic era to treat women this way, and that she was still better off than she would have been among the soldiers, being gang-raped!
Now, if this had been simply to set Brook up for a fall, I might have gone along with it. But in fact, later when he is in the girl's power, and she has the power to turn him into a eunuch, it's revealed she's fallen in love with him, and ends up saving him! It doesn't take too much of a stretch to regard this as condoning rape, and supporting the "all girls secretly like it and want to be violated and treated rough" excuse that's sometimes trotted out for this revolting act.
Now this certainly isn't a generally held opinion among decent people (regardless of gender) in our day, and I'm willing to bet it wasn't even acceptable at the time this story was written (I've known quite a few people that were born at the same time as Wheatley)... this book gave me an extreme distaste for Wheatley and Brook, and if this was a generally occurring philosophy and action in his stories, I'd toss my entire Wheatley collection in the trash and never read him again. Thankfully, it isn't, and his heroes treat women a lot more decently in most of his books, but this volume represents a truly black spot among Wheatley's otherwise entertaining oeuvre, and it gets my anti-recommendation on those grounds!
A shame, since it has so many other virtues - but this one thing alone makes me hate it!
So why the one star, you ask? It's like this.
I am in no way overly obsessed with political correctness, and when reading Wheatley I've long ago learned to handwave his less likeable opinions - Wheatley believed that one Englishman was worth fifty wogs, the poor were put there by God and had better suck it up and respect their betters and gays had no right to live. Fair enough, I'm willing to grit my teeth and accept that in Wheatley's heyday these ideas were acceptable, even mainstream.
But sometimes, you can go too far.
The eponymous "sultan's daughter" is a girl who is being menaced by French soldiers and rescued by the noble Roger Brook. But Brook does not simply comfort her and set her free - no, he takes ownership (even using that exact word himself), regards his having saved her as giving him the right to rape her, and does so, in as violent and humiliating a manner as possible. Furthermore, Wheatley even expects us to sympathize with Brook, on the grounds that it was normal in the Napoleonic era to treat women this way, and that she was still better off than she would have been among the soldiers, being gang-raped!
Now, if this had been simply to set Brook up for a fall, I might have gone along with it. But in fact, later when he is in the girl's power, and she has the power to turn him into a eunuch, it's revealed she's fallen in love with him, and ends up saving him! It doesn't take too much of a stretch to regard this as condoning rape, and supporting the "all girls secretly like it and want to be violated and treated rough" excuse that's sometimes trotted out for this revolting act.
Now this certainly isn't a generally held opinion among decent people (regardless of gender) in our day, and I'm willing to bet it wasn't even acceptable at the time this story was written (I've known quite a few people that were born at the same time as Wheatley)... this book gave me an extreme distaste for Wheatley and Brook, and if this was a generally occurring philosophy and action in his stories, I'd toss my entire Wheatley collection in the trash and never read him again. Thankfully, it isn't, and his heroes treat women a lot more decently in most of his books, but this volume represents a truly black spot among Wheatley's otherwise entertaining oeuvre, and it gets my anti-recommendation on those grounds!
A shame, since it has so many other virtues - but this one thing alone makes me hate it!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews