Lorraine
(Harper & Brothers, 1897)
At the onset of the Franco-Prussian war, Lorraine is a peaceful little province. It abounds in scenes of natural beauty. And young lovers resort among its glades and thickets to plight their troths. Jack Marche is an American war correspondent. He also happens to be the nephew of the Vicomte de Morteyn, at whose chateau he is staying. He is in love with Lorraine, the daughter of the Vicomte de Nesville, an embittered genius who spends all day alone in his turret tinkering with his new invention: a navigable balloon which he hopes at the proper time to give to France to aid in its struggle against the Prussians. But Nesville has an implacable hatred towards Napoleon III, at whose soldiers' hands his son met his death. This colors his mind with frenzy, as he labors day and night, hoping to see the old ogre off his throne one day.
As soon as war is declared between France and Germany, Marche gets a job as war correspondent, and follows the movements of the Prussian army as they press into the territory of Lorraine. Meanwhile, he manages to keep his trysts with Lorraine de Nesville, until a series of unfortunate accidents threatens to part them. Jack inadvertently shoots an Uhlan soldier in self defense, and is forced to go into hiding. Soon the Emperor Napoleon III and his soldiers cross into the region, and require the use of the chateau Morteyn. The Morteyns depart to Paris, leaving Jack behind. He hopes to protect Lorraine de Nesville, but it soon becomes apparent that the Prussian forces are too great for France. As combat breaks out on all sides, Marche and Lorraine de Nesville seek to slip out of the country-- hoping if they can to avoid the Argus-eyes of the Prussian cavalry, whose 11th regiment has sworn destruction against Marche.
This novel is the first in a series of four stories written by Chambers dealing with the Franco-Prussian war. It a well written piece. Chambers is always adept at painting word pictures, and here is a great example of what his pen can effect. A simple poetry ripples throughout its pages. True, some of the characters are a bit wooden and lifeless. The only really interesting figures are Napoleon III and the Viscomte de Nesville. A dramatic scene takes place between the two, in which the Viscomte calls the emperor a scoundrel to his teeth. We cannot help feeling, however, that Marche's character is somewhat dead, while that of Lorraine is a bit overdone. Nevertheless, what Chambers lacks in character touch he makes up for in historical realism. The tale is very well researched. The author has an unusually broad knowledge of his subject matter. And this comes into play when scenes of the Prussian invasion are described.
The tale is written in an easy, affable style. The prose, though sometimes interlarded with French phrases and expressions, never has a palling effect. It is fast-moving. We feel that a bit more action could have been thrown into the mix, but as it stands we really cannot find much fault, for the interest is admirably sustained. Chambers was a genius in his chosen field of historical fiction. Some of his novels had an immense popularity in their day, though in recent years they have become more and more neglected. However, Chambers spent the best part of his career on these stories. And we suppose that the least we can do is to read and review them as they come into our hands. This therefore shall be the first in a series of reviews dealing with Chambers' historical fiction. As we get deeper into these volumes, we'll hope to unfold and showcase more of the author's talents.
Thankfully, copies are Lorraine are easy to come by. The reader shouldn't have to spend more than $10 on a used edition of this work. The novel was first published by Harper and Brothers, however it was re-issued at various points during the author's career. The copy I have belongs to an 11 volume edition of "The Historical Romances of Robert W. Chambers," issued by McKinlay, Stone, and Mackenzie, circa 1925. As I found to my surprise, this is the author's own personal set. The first volume is signed by Chambers and contains an inscription to him from the publishers. The only drawback to this series is that it fails to reprint the majority of the illustrations, only retaining one per volume as a frontispiece. There are probably, however, more illustrations to be found in the original Harper edition. This book was followed by Ashes of Empire (1898) and the Maids of Paradise (1902). The Red Republic (1895), though also dealing with the Franco-Prussian war, is chronologically the last of the series.
--B.A.S.
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