The Wanderers
Expelled from the Prideau estate where his brother works, a boy named Leo Sercombe begins an odyssey in 1912 across the moors and small towns in the West Country of England with only the clothes on his back. Before long, Leo comes close to dying from thirst and starvation. Gypsies rescue him and require Leo to serve them as repayment for saving his life. Despite mistreatment by some in the tribe, he adapts and tries to learn their strange ways. His intuitive affinity for horses and skill as a jockey make him valuable, but also attract jealousy and hatred. When a rival nearly kills him, he escapes on horseback.
In place after place Leo encounters various degrees of charity or torment as he seeks alms or tries to work for a living. A good-hearted innocent adrift in an uncaring, and often brutal world, he suffers some harsh lessons on his quest to find relatives in Penzance. Lottie, the only child of Lord Prideau, is less sensitive. She possesses a scientific intellect and strong will. Her life at the estate alters when her father decides to remarry and with the advent of World War I.
This book offers detailed and historically authentic views of the landscape and of various distinct worlds existing in close proximity within the West Country. Experienced through Leo’s perceptions nature has a sacred, mystical quality that contrasts sharply with the rapacious behavior of the men who exploit it. A few disturbing scenes contain cruel treatment of animals. The writing style is absorbing, yet some hooks and other plot elements are left unaddressed, presumably to be resolved in the next volume of the trilogy.
