This Blighted Expedition
Parallel to the unsuccessful British Walcheren military campaign of 1809, a more clandestine political battle is taking place in the highest levels of His Majesty’s government. The amphibious assault against the Netherlands coast pits the British Army and the Royal Navy against French defenders, but also against each other. Navy Captain Hugh Kelly commands one of the invasion’s many warships, and his trusted First Lieutenant Alfred Durrell is snatched away as aide-de-camp to a high-level naval commander. A third protagonist, army Captain Ross Mackenzie, commands an infantry company in the landing force.
As the three men struggle to fulfill their duties, top-level commanders fritter away chances for victory by focusing on personal, political, and inter-service rivalries. Kelly commands his ship well in a duel with French shore batteries, Mackenzie leads his company creditably in a skirmish, and Durrell brings order out of chaos, coordinating army and naval forces in a campaign that hinges on logistics more than strategy or heroism. After the British withdrawal, Parliament mounts an investigation to assign blame for the expedition.
For a military historical novel there is surprisingly little action, and that is summarized more than being developed with intensity and suspense. In fact, the book relies on “telling rather than showing” too often. One character recognizes “his habit of long sentences and involved explanations.” The novel itself has the same fault, with much backstory and overabundant information. Author Lynn Bryant delves deeply into her characters’ thoughts and emotions, but tighter writing, with characterization accomplished more through actions and subtext, would improve and shorten the book. Those criticisms aside, the writing is reminiscent of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin novels, allowing readers to immerse themselves in the story and the details of the early 19th-century British world.
