"The finest historical short stories ever written" is Conan-Doyle expert Owen Edwards' verdict on the Brigadier Gerard series. In this new complete edition, which includes 55 original illustrations by W B Wollen, the aged Brigadier tells all his tales of Napoleonic gloire, quite unhindered by any sense of false modesty. He was, he tells us, "the finest horseman ... and the best swordsman in the entire Grande Armee", an outstandingly brave, hot-blooded hussar who was, of course, beloved by any woman fortunate to cast her eyes upon him. Nor was the Emperor unaware of Etienne Gerard's accomplishments, and sought him out for a variety of secret, or especially dangerous assignments. And so we are told of wild adventures from the Peninsular War, Waterloo, the retreat from Moscow, Gerard's imprisonment in England, and even an attempt to rescue Napoleon from St. Helena.
