Came A Cavalier

by Frances Parkinson Keyes

Book by Frances Parkinson Keyes

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, Novels, Historical, Classics, World War I

435 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1947

About the author

Frances Parkinson Keyes was an American author who wrote about her life as the wife of a U.S. Senator and novels set in New England, Louisiana, and Europe. A convert to Roman Catholicism, her later works frequently featured Catholic themes and beliefs. Her last name rhymes with "skies," not "keys."

Reviews

[Carol, She's so Novel ꧁꧂ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad I didn't give up on this book!

I so nearly did, as up till around page 80 this book was slow moving & dull. But WWII was still a recent enough memory (this book written in 1947)for Frances Parkinson Keyes to write with carefully crafted passion about how much American born Constance & her aristocratic French family suffered & lost. I can't remember another book that brings an occupancy so well to life.

I have read Parkinson Keyes before (she was a great favourite of my late parents) & Constance is very typical of her heroines - a woman of strong courage & principles & blessed with great personal charm.

So damn that beginning! It was bad enough to reduce my rating to 4*

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not for the faint of heart! If you choose to read it because you are expecting a light-hearted romance, you must look a little farther. Not only is the story complex and surprising, but the writing (in the fashion typical of an age when people were not in a hurry to read) offers such detailed descriptions that the reader cannot hurry without running the risk of missing a critical detail.

The story begins innocently - and deceptively - enough, appearing to be a simple case of a young, inexperienced, starry-eyed young woman about to be swept off her feet by some military officer. Enter Dr. Duncan Craig, a seemingly pompous, somewhat chauvinistic American military doctor serving in France immediately following the armistice which ended World War I. His advances toward Constance Galt (the young American civilian woman who is working at the same base in France as a "searcher") are repeatedly spurned and, in due course, Constance meets the "love of her life", a French baron, Colonel Tristan de Fremond (who has a chateau, but not a fortune). Part One of the book (very skilfully and without describing the wedding) leaves no doubt in the mind of the reader that Constance will choose to marry the Frenchman. However, Part Two is full of surprises.

Part Two begins with numerous flashbacks which fill in the years between 1919 and 1939 before focusing on the events which take place at the de Fremond chateau during World War II. Not only are the author's vivid and sensitive descriptions of the horror, fear, and hardships of life in and around the chateau spell-binding, but the growth and development of key characters and relationships is subtle and emotional. The surprise in Part Two is the virtual absence of Baron de Fremond and the repeated appearances of the two other men in the story who love and respect Constance very deeply.

Of all the novels I have read in my lifetime, this is the only one which has made me cry. That is a compliment. A must-read for anyone who seeks some insight into country life in France during World War II and enjoys a challenging, complex story.

[Muriel Schwenck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, based on the title and cover art, and as an ardent devotee of all things equestrian, I thought I would read a book about le Cadre Noir Saumur. Nope! (Although it is featured for a short time. http://www.cadrenoir.co.uk/)
This is a great book about an American woman who marries a French officer right after WW1, and her life through WW2.
It is full of details of everyday life in Normandy during this period. (For the minor aristocracy anyway.)
A great deal of the book concerns the family's experiences during WW2.
As is usually the case in a Keyes book, there is much sadness, much joy, and plenty of hard work.
This book abounds with the usual 'Keyesian' themes: a woman's only true fulfillment comes from true love, marriage (often very precipitate) and abundant fecundity. If she doesn't find fulfillment in this way, she finds fulfillment as a nun, or she dies of something. Or else she serves as some type of bad example: the self absorbed woman no man is happy with, which encourages the characters and the reader to be a noble, industrious, fecund, sometimes Catholic character. (Sometimes, that self absorbed character type is redeemed by realizing the error of her ways and marries humbly and happily.)
Now, I am the type Keyes would have labelled useless. I never wanted children, Widowed, refuse to remarry. Serve no charities or religious society. Also rather feminist, yet I find her books deliciously melodramatic, marvelously detailed. Fabulous chronicles of a type of life that frankly requires a lot of hard work and sacrifice from women who are sometimes not up to the challenge.
Please dismiss your modern sensibilities and enjoy the well bred melodramas of yesteryear.
I am full of sympathy for the ladies of yesterday, who suffered their sorrows in silence and soldiered on for love, family, morals, and religion. I hope you will enjoy Keyes' novels in the same way.

[Anna Bertram · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the best books I have ever read. I learned a great deal about the hardships endured by the country folk in France during the 2nd World War, their pragmatism, patriotism, heroism and resourcefulness in nearly impossible conditions. The central love story and the several other love stories of lesser characters made it very touching. The story starts at the end of World War I and continues to the end of German occupation of France in World War II. I will read this one again before I pass it on to another avid reader.

[Sharon Bettinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book when I was 16 and have read it at least 3 more times since then and loved it all over again!

[Cecilia Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book of all time. I love a fiction book that impacts my prayer and this book did that and then some.

[Estefania Fernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pesar de que la primer parte de la novela se ha quedado anticuada, no sucede así con la segunda parte. Escrita en 1947, debió ser de las primeras novelas que hablaron de la ocupación alemana desde el punto de vista de las mujeres que se quedaron en sus hogares solas y a merced del ejército invasor. Un libro muy emotivo, que se quedará para siempre en mi recuerdo.

[Estelle Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book awhile ago, and I still think about it sometimes. It’s honestly one of the best books I’ve read. I usually don’t like books that span a long period of time, but Francis Packinston Keys made it work. I love happy endings, so the tragedy that came into her life later on was unexpected as it seemed like the kind of book that would have a perfectly happy ending. Nevertheless, I think the author handled it very well, and I never lost interest in the book while I was reading it. And the story still sticks in my head.

[Crystal Birkhold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars because Last several chapters felt rushed as if author had to suddenly finish the book.
Would still highly recommend it. This is my first Frances Parkinson Keyes so cannot compare to any of her other works.

[Sharon Healy-Yang · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Beautifully crafted and developed. The basic story concerns Connie Galt, a "Searcher" with the Red Cross right after WWI. Her job in France is to question survivors in the Army hospitals in hopes of identifying the fates of MIA service people. Intelligent and hardworking, a good friend with integrity and humor, she is well regarded by fellow researchers, a Count and Contess, and an Army doctor. She also wins the the regard of a French cavalry officer who happens to be a count of a minor chateau. The conflicts start with competition for her affections between the two men and tensions amongst her female friends, but the book is more than mere soap opera: Connie struggles to find her way and build her confidence, ultimately becoming a woman of strength and tact; the romance develops slowly, passionately, and feelingly; complex characters think and feel, change and grow; and gorgeous descriptions of setting bring France alive. Connie's marriage and life at the chateau and in various levels of French society is romantic believable, then takes a turn for the horrific when Keyes skips 20 years to the future and brings us to life during the German occupation. The writer feelingly captures the unbearable tension, brutality, and unexpected moments of beauty in those horrific years. I won't tell you how it ends, but the book is worth the read - especially as you see characters evolve, often in unexpected ways.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Constance Galt, from Winchester, Massachusetts, volunteers with the Red Cross at the end of World War I. She is a Searcher at the Grand Blottereau Hospital Center where the Searcher’s primary purpose is to get information from the wounded. She arrives after November 19, 1918, but her job is still important. She meets the de Fremond family of the Château Chassy and becomes good friends. She meets their nephew, Tristan, a captain of cavalry, a cuirassier, in the Cadre Noir at Saumur. This is their story that continues on through 1944, with marriages, births, friendships, hardships and death.

This is one of those authors that may soon be forgotten as her books are not in ebook format and are difficult to find. I find that a tragic state-of-affairs.

[Carrie Dalby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed it. Highly detailed and rich with characters, as Keyes is known for. I prefer her Southern Gothics because I'm more familiar with the terrain/setting, but it was an enlightening read.

It took so long to read because [yes, it's a big book, but] I was switching between first drafting on one manuscript and final edits on another, while reading a second novel for an online discussion. (Still working on finishing the first draft and reading the second novel, but that's a re-read for me.)

[CarolynAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 star
This was a book that I read over 40 years ago but is on my 'must-read-again' list. I have kept this book on my bookshelf through numerous moves so, while I don't remember a lot about the story, I do remember that it really moved me and I loved it enough to keep.

[Joelie Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy stories written in real time about historic events. When I read The Nightingale my first thought was of Came a Cavelier. I enjoy the leisurely pace of her writing

[Lynette Lark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It began during WWI and continued through WWII. As I read it I thought about Ukraine and how it would be to live through a war, especially if you lived in a city with constant bombings and with very little food or clean water.

Luckily, our heroine lived in a manor in the country with servants and laborers who worked her land. However, when the Nazis decided to move into the manor everything changed for her.

[Pdswhite · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very influential book. It also impressed upon me how closely WWII followed WWI. And how ordinary families could have been and were affected by these wars. It brought a face to war.

It also enticed me to explore the countryside of France.

[Loretta · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first part is predictable ( especially if you read the lengthy forward ) but an interesting look at women's roles in WW one. The second part was very interesting. The characters were well developed and the culture and historical details of France in WW2 were fascinating. I enjoyed it.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

A World War 1 through WW 2 story of an American girl serving in France who marries an "officier instructeur d'equitation " in the Cadre Noir- a crack calvary unit. Interesting because it was written in 1947, not long after the war was over, so emotions were still running high.

[Mary Lott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great romance! It starts at the close of WWI inFrance and spans the era through the end of WWII. The protagonist is confronted with evil, both personal and national, and she triumphs through it all. I keep a copy on hand when I want a good, happy-ending story.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the first books I read as an adult. Semi-autobiographical, the book begins during the first world war, and runs through the second world war. Love story, war history, and so well-written. I love most of Ms. Keyes work, but this is my favorite by far.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite of Frances Parkinson Keyes, without a doubt. I am pretty sure I have read more of her books than I have marked here, but I really can't remember.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very oldie, but a romantic read...

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my Grandma Flora's favorite book.

[Mark W. Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good descriptions of occupied France during WW2.