1798 is a year etched in the memory of every Irish schoolchild. A rebellion of the rural people against the English overlords occurred, starting in southerly Wexford, with a pike as its emblem. BERGIN’S QUEST will take a half-French, half-Irish man from the war-torn continent to the rebellious westerly island of Ireland.
Napoleon Bonaparte desires a French envoy to the well-placed rebel leaders, hoping to strike at the back of England, his remaining enemy. Daniel Bergin, a French cuirassier, is riding down the Ragusa coastline at the start of our story, but after a brief battle, he changes course to Paris, summoned by his dying mother. With more questions than answers about his parentage, he accepts Bonaparte’s command and takes the ship in secret for Ireland. At his heel trots a black and white spotted large dog. This unfamiliar breed is a Dalmatian dog originally kept as a carriage protector by the fashionable, and this one earns the name Killer.
While I was interested in Bergin, I kept my eye on Killer, and the poor dog gets left behind occasionally, later found roaming the streets of Dublin or in similar straits. This loyal dog saves the man’s bacon a few times. I also love the spirited Emily Dixon, whom Bergin meets while she is travelling to be a debutante at the Dublin Castle Ball. Life was smooth for those with money, but some landlords were better than others, and the Anglo-Irish like the Dixons often tried to be good stewards of lands and staff.
The politics of the day were complex, but many countries with royalty were in horror at the French Revolution, called the Terror, which brought Napoleon to power. In Ireland, the United Irishmen under Theobald Wolfe Tone and Bagenal Harvey wanted to seize their chance and import arms and men from France. Naturally, the English authorities did all in their power to oppose them. Daniel Bergin also has to contend with personal enemies, and nicely, one is a woman, Megan Prackett, who makes a habit of being widowed.
The atmospheric tale brings the action from the narrow streets of Paris to the craggy coasts of Wexford, from the administrative centre at Dublin Castle to a manor house and orchard. I learned a lot and enjoyed the thrilling adventure of BERGIN’S QUEST. The author, J. M. Harpur, is a retired civil servant who regularly visits the scenes he describes. He is also a working artist and creates his own book covers. I hope this talented writer has many more tall tales up his sleeve.
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