With Wellington in Spain: A Story of the Peninsula

Frederick Sadleir BreretonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0
Word count
521K words
Chapters
53

Tags

English Originals War and Military FictionHistorical Fiction Historical ReappraisalMilitary StrategyAdventure JourneyMilitary CommandersHeroismComing of AgeExotic CultureYouth Reading

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.With Wellington in Spain: A Story of the Peninsula by F. S. BreretonAuthor: Brereton, F. S. (Frederick Sadleir), 1872-,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Oct 27, 2013

Editor's review

This work is a historical adventure novel for young readers by the British author F. S. Brereton, set against Wellington's campaign in the Peninsular War in Spain, and is a free public-domain ebook from Project Gutenberg. Its value lies not in historical scholarship but in weaving marches, sieges, and reconnaissance into a continuous story from a boy's perspective, with brisk language and strong narrative momentum; it works well as an introduction to English historical fiction. It offers an accessible picture of military life, Spanish local color, and the conditions the British army fought in, helping readers form a vivid sense of the Iberian theater during the Napoleonic Wars. It is best enjoyed as juvenile literature of its era rather than as a primary source for military history; parts of the narration carry a pronounced imperial outlook and a tendency to romanticize war, which readers should approach with a critical eye. Suitable for reading in installments on a commute or before bed, and it can be paired with a short history of the Peninsular War to see the gap between fictional narrative and historical fact.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Read one chapter first to get a feel for the characters and the period, then continue in the order the campaigns unfold
  2. Keep a brief timeline of the Peninsular War at hand and compare fictional episodes with real events as you read
  3. Mark unfamiliar military terms and look them up after finishing a passage, so the pace is not broken
  4. After finishing, write a short review distinguishing which passages are literary invention

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53

FAQ

Is this book real history or fiction? It is a fictional boys' adventure novel set against the Peninsular War; the characters and plot are largely literary invention, with Wellington and the wartime setting serving as a period frame, so it should not be cited directly as a historical source.
What English level is it roughly suited to? It is written in the style of old-fashioned boys' adventure fiction, with long sentences but strong plot momentum; readers with intermediate English who are used to looking words up will find it easy to get into, while beginners may prefer an annotated edition or reading it alongside a translation.
Do I need to know about the Peninsular War before reading? You do not need to read a military history beforehand, but knowing the basic outline of Wellington leading British forces against the French in Spain and Portugal will make it easier to grasp the background significance of episodes such as marches and sieges.

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About the author

Frederick Sadleir Brereton Author · United Kingdom · 1872–1957

Frederick Sadleir Brereton (1872–1957) was a British Army medical officer who later became a writer of adventure stories for boys. Born in Surrey in 1872, he served in the Second Boer War and the First World War, rising to honorary lieutenant colonel and receiving the CBE. His works, 18 of which are held in this collection, celebrated heroic deeds of the British Empire and drew on colonial wars and expeditions—titles include Jones of the 64th, How Canada Was Won, On the Road to Bagdad, With Rifle and Bayonet, With Wolseley to Kumasi, A Gallant Grenadier, With the Dyaks of Borneo and With Wellington in Spain. These military adventures are tightly plotted and centre on brave, resolute young heroes, bearing a clear mark of their era; full details of his life and writings remain limited in publicly available sources.