Uncle Bernac

by Arthur Conan Doyle

Looking for a replacement to Sherlock Holmes after the author had killed him off in 1894, Doyle wrote this murder mystery in the dying years of the 19th century. Set in Napoleon’s era, it involves a Frenchman returning to his native land to join the Emperor’s ranks.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Classics, Novels, Historical, Fiction, Adventure

212 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1897

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

[Len · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reduce the age of the protagonist and dispose with the final marriage celebrations and we have a Napoleonic adventure that would be at home in a pre-1914 Chums or Boy's Own Paper. It could have been written by S. Walkey or G. Godfray Sellick, or W. Bourne Cooke; there were lots of them to choose from and all much alike. Also it is rather like a novel written by a short story writer.

The story involves Louis de Laval, the son of an exiled aristocrat, who is persuaded to return to his native France by his scheming uncle. He finds that his uncle is a police spy who, among other ambitions, wants him to marry his daughter to legitimise his possession of the family château. The daughter's lover, who is a coward of no small repute, is being held in prison for plotting against the Emperor. Said daughter's judgement of character is somewhat clouded by romance and wants Louis to help win the young man's freedom by capturing his brave and ferocious co-conspirator Toussac – with the help of the soldier who would become Brigadier Gerard in later stories. Of course, all works out well in the end.

The problem is, to make that story long enough to be a novel we have, sandwiched in the middle, a large chunk of Napoleon fan-worship when Louis is brought to the camp of the Grande Armee at Boulogne. We are introduced to Napoleon the commander, Napoleon the strategist, Napoleon the judge of human character, Napoleon the colossus towering over Talleyrand, Ney, Murat, Lannes, Auguereau, and the rest. All interesting enough, but it would be more at home in an introductory textbook.

Uncle Bernac meets his deserved end. Which provides the moral of the story: be careful when doing owl impersonations.

[Marianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved, loved it. Such a wonderful portrayal of both Napoleon and his wife Josephine. This book is a hidden gem.
4.5*

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can see why Doyle was not quite satisfied with this novel; Napoleon completely overshadows the rest of the novel. There's a promising beginning with a young French aristocrat in exile receiving a mysterious invitation to join his uncle in France and enter into Napoleon's service. We're soon the realm of high adventure with mysterious meetings in desolate places, but once our hero finally meets the Emperor, a vast chunk of the novel is given over to a most vivid portrait of the Napoleonic court with walk on appearances by Talleyrand, Josephine and many others. It's all very well realised and memorable, but it does overshadow the resolution of the plot, the one with Uncle Bernac in it, a bit too much.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A noble,Laval, who fled the Jacobins to England returns to France as Napoleon prepares his army to cross the Channel. He is quickly immersed in family and political intrigue involving his shady Uncle Bernac. We also meet Lieutenant Girard of the Brigadier Girard stories. An engaging and enjoyable read. A pity there aren't more stories with these characters.

[Arf Ortiyef · Rating 4 out of 5]

half adventure story, half what would it be like to get to hang out with Napoleon fan fiction. loved the cameo from Brigadier Gerard

[Ludditus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm used to reading books written before 1900 or shortly after, and I'm accustomed to Conan Doyle. Even so, this book is so ridiculous, as if it were written by a Frenchman, not by a Briton. It really is as if it mocks the French writing style of the times before the Second Empire, with dialogues nobody would carry on this way, and with uselessly long descriptions. Typically French, only this time it's an English text. If you read it as a pubescent, maybe you'll find some charm in it, otherwise it's a joke of a novel.

If you want naive writings of much better quality, you could pick your crop from any of Balzac, Dumas, Zevaco, and a lot more, except that they didn't write stories around Napoleon (Dumas and Walter Scott wrote about Napoleon, but their attempt was at a biography of the Emperor).

If you want to read non-Sherlock works by Conan Doyle, there's plenty to choose from. This one is only too subpar.

[Carol Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not really what I expected from Doyle, but a really good story anyway! This is about a French ex-pat noble who returns to France to fight for Napoleon and what happened during the first few weeks he was there. There is no military fighting in this story, just personal experiences related to his family, Napoleon and Josephine, and members of Napoleon's camp.

[Lavender · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story, revolving around a man in the service of Napoleon in France.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first book from ACD that’s not Sherlock Holmes and a great story about Napoleon and would have probably by- passed it had I known, glad I read it and will be reading more of his in the future

[ferri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite good short novel.

[Rog Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a big fan of the author when I was at school so I probably read this in 1966.

[Audiobook Heaven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, I listened to the audiobook version on YouTube. I will leave the link below so that everyone can enjoy it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj-Xv...

[Rozonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't read it English, but in a beautiful Spanish translation by Manuel Machado, which I haven't been able to find here. Set up at the highest moments of Napoleon's glory, this exciting adventure novel lets us see how much respect Doyle had for Napoleon, overcoming the hatred and fear this historical figure caused traditionally among the Britons.

[Nindya Chitra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like all the series of Sherlock Holmes . Each story contains a mystery that makes the reader curious and kept reading until the end . It's too late for me was just reading the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle . But I still enjoyed until now . Lots of serial story, I still read it until now .

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read, very quick, and the language is very engaging. Set in the early 19th century, it offers a very interesting character sketch of Napolean while also running you through a mystery that is gripping from start to finish. Very well done (and free on the Kindle).

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is in reality two loosely cobbled together short stories. The adventures of Louis and Bernac and the story of life in Napolean's camp on the French Coast. It was a good read and I enjoyed it. But not one of Doyle's best.

[Homunculus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mal eine etwas andere Novelle von ACD (eher historisch). Nichts desto trotz hat sie mir gut gefallen. Es gab zwei Handlungsstränge und man hätte sich hier evtl. wünschen können, dass er sich auf einen konzentriert.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read. Napoleonic era swashbuckler/romance.

[Harish P · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel was set during the Napoleonic era.
Well, there is no detection involved, but there is a lot of adventure.
A wonderful Sunday read!

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

A strange little book that just seems to be getting started when suddenly it's over. Rather unsatisfying.

[kami · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm.

Edition read: John Murray Paperbacks
First published in this edition 1968
This book is published by arrangement with the Estate of the late Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

[Doug Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Conan Doyle's work, but this may be his weakest book.

[Eugene Prystupa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is very good book, not because author is Arthur Conan Doyle, but because of gripping story, who`s kipping you intrigued till the end.