''Beau Sabreur'' is a 1926 novel by

P. C. Wren Percival Christopher Wren (1 November 187522 November 1941) was an English writer, mostly of adventure fiction. He is remembered best for ''Beau Geste'', a much-filmed book of 1924, involving the French Foreign Legion in North Africa. This was ...

. It was the first sequel to his 1924 novel ''

Beau Geste ''Beau Geste'' is an adventure novel by British writer P. C. Wren, which details the adventures of three English brothers who enlist separately in the French Foreign Legion following the theft of a valuable jewel from the country house of a rel ...

'' and was turned into a

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

in 1928.

Plot

It focuses on the adventures of Major Henri de Beaujolais from adolescence to maturity as a well-connected cavalry officer in the French Army: he's an

Old Etonian Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

; his mother a Devonshire Cary; his deceased father a Frenchman; his paternal uncle the youngest General in the French Army and married to the sister of the French Minister of State for War. Starting as a one-year volunteer trooper in a

hussar A hussar ( , ; hu, huszár, pl, husarz, sh, husar / ) was a member of a class of light cavalry, originating in Central Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely ...

regiment, De Beaujolais graduates from the Cavalry School of Saumur to become an officer of

Spahi Spahis () were light-cavalry regiments of the French army recruited primarily from the indigenous populations of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. The modern French Army retains one regiment of Spahis as an armoured unit, with personnel now r ...

s and a member of the French Secret Service. He appears in Wren's ''Beau Geste'', commanding the relief column which reaches the besieged Fort Zinderneuf.

Themes

It can be said that it is the French novel of the trilogy (or known as a trilogy if one takes no account of the books ''Good Gestes'' and ''Spanish Maine'') as ''Beau Geste'' is the English one, and ''Beau Ideal'' the American one. The plot presents the dichotomy between love of country (duty) and the love of a woman (passion). The ''New York Times'' complained about the "preposterous plot and inconceivable characters." The original title was ''Who Rideth Alone''.

References

External links

*
''Beau Sabreur'' original novel
at

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British novels adapted into films English adventure novels 1926 British novels Sequel novels John Murray (publishing house) books {{1920s-adventure-novel-stub