Part of La Comédie Humaine
First published 2003
At the siege of Tarragona, Colonel Eugene commands a regiment of Italian exiles and misfits serving in Napoleon's army. His men are the scattered remnants of troublemakers and failed greatness, soldiers whom society has branded as irredeemable. The regiment has earned a fearsome reputation for battlefield courage and private wickedness. Their legendary hero Bianchi, who once wagered he would eat a Spanish sentinel's heart and did so, demands the honor of leading the assault on Tarragona's walls. When Marshal Suchet initially forgets his promise to grant this request, Bianchi forces him to remember. The enraged soldier becomes the first to plant the French flag on the ramparts, where a monk's bullet cuts him down. As Tarragona falls and military order struggles to contain the chaos of victory, Eugene must hold together his band of outcasts while navigating the thin line between honor and infamy that defines their existence.
Genres: drama, classic-literature, historical-fiction, military-fiction, adventure, 19th-century
Vibes: dark, epic, gritty, intense, morally-complex
Tropes: found-family, honor-and-duty, ragtag-unit, redemption-through-valor
Setting: Tarragona, Spain, France
Period: Napoleonic Wars, 19th century
90 pages · Paperback · BookSurge Classics
Content warnings: gore, violence, war