The Black Lions of Flanders

Before the words had left Brandt’s lips, the French soldiers had begun to turn and flee, some had thrown away weapons in the hope of mitigating what was to follow.

“Fire!” The volley crashed out. 

Krombach was blinded by stinging white smoke and when his eyes cleared the narrow road contained only the dead and the dying. 

The enemy had fled. 

“Brandt’s Company...follow me!” 

February 1793 

Private Sebastian Krombach joined the army to escape the boredom of life in his father’s fishing fleet; Captain Werner Brandt yearned to leave his post and retire into civilised society; and Lieutenant Erich von Bomm wanted nothing more than to survive his latest escapade that had provoked another duel. 

Each man is a King’s German; when they are called to war, their lives will become inextricably linked. 

The ranks of 2nd Battalion are an unhappy home. While Brandt struggles to turn his new company into a coherent fighting force, Krombach quickly learns that, in order to survive in Brandt’s Company, each redcoat must choose allegiance to one of its fierce factions. 

And when von Bomm, newly promoted to the 1st Grenadiers, finds himself part of a command outnumbered and facing annihilation, it is the untested redcoats of 2nd Battalion who must race to the rescue. 

But the French have seized the initiative, and in the white-hot furnace of Rumes the Black Lions of Flanders hunt the King’s Germans, determined to defend the revolution and destroy their enemy before they can ever reach French soil.

The Black Lion of Flanders is a riveting read and I was sorry to get to the end of it. Highly recommended...The author has created a varied and excellent cast of characters from both sides of the conflict. He has a gift for characterisation; I find it very easy to believe in these men which is always the key to keeping me reading. 5* Goodreads This is the first good historical novel of the wars of the French Revolution that I have read since the works of Alexandre Dumas.

5* Goodreads