''Young Bloods'' is the first volume in

Simon Scarrow Simon Scarrow (born 3 October 1962) is a British author. Scarrow completed a master's degree at the University of East Anglia after working at the Inland Revenue, and then went into teaching as a lecturer, firstly at East Norfolk Sixth Form C ...

's ''

Wellington and Napoleon Quartet The ''Wellington and Napoleon Quartet'' is a historical fiction series of novels by Simon Scarrow set in primarily the time of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. The series tells the stories of Napoleon Bonaparte and Arthur Wellesley ...

'', which narrates mostly in alternate chapters, the story of a young Anglo-Irish nobleman Arthur Wellesley and the Corsican cadet Napoleone Buonaparte.

Plot

The book begins with the birth of both men in 1769 - Arthur as a weak and puny baby, a third son, to a wealthy Anglo-Irish Protestant couple; Napoleone as a healthy second son to a Corsican couple fighting the French for independence. The story continues with the training of both youths as cadet officers, both encountering social and other difficulties thanks to their birth outside the mainland. Arthur's innate conservatism forms as a result of the

Gordon riots The Gordon Riots of 1780 were several days of rioting in London motivated by anti-Catholic sentiment. They began with a large and orderly protest against the Papists Act 1778, which was intended to reduce official discrimination against British ...

and his realization that his Anglo-Irish Protestant lifestyle is dependent on maintaining the status quo. Napoleone, on the other hand, is even more of an outsider, a Corsican among Frenchmen, a quasi-noble among pre-revolutionary noblemen, and an impoverished young cadet among those with money to burn. Interestingly, both men are depicted as having a brief encounter with each other in the years prior to the French Revolution wherein Wellesley is sent to observe a demonstration that Napoleone's regiment is participating in. Such an encounter did not happen in actuality, though Wellesley, fluent in French, was sent to France on several occasions in his youth as an observer. The story ends approximately in 1796, with Arthur having been turned down by the family of his ''inamorata''

Kitty Pakenham Catherine Sarah Dorothea Wellesley, Duchess of Wellington (; 14 January 1773 – 24 April 1831), known before her marriage as Kitty Pakenham, was the wife of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Early life Catherine Pakenham was born on 14 ...

because of his lack of prospects, and Napoleone, now called Napoleon Bonaparte, mounting a successful attack on

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

. 2006 British novels Wellington and Napoleon Quartet Headline Publishing Group books {{2000s-war-novel-stub