A Novel by Roxane Gilbert
A Forgotten Hero’s Epic of Loyalty, Betrayal, and Empire
In the opulent salons of Georgian England and the brutal theaters of war from the West Indies to India, Colonel John Hayes St. Leger—dashing soldier, devoted equerry, and intimate of royalty—embarks on a life of valor shadowed by deception.
Born to a swaggering Anglo-Irish horse breeder, the man known as Handsome Jack rises through daring exploits and royal favor, befriending the Prince of Wales and forging alliances with luminaries like the great political statesman Edmund Burke, the cultivated French nobleman Philippe Égalité, and the gracious Duchess of Rutland. Yet, as he safeguards the throne’s wayward heirs amid scandals and shifting loyalties, Jack underestimates the depths of his rivals’ schemes, even as he foresees the revolution’s gathering storms. From the fevered battlefields of Flanders to the treacherous courts of London, Versailles, and Madras, his unwavering principles clash with a world unraveling in chaos. Will his steadfast honor secure his place in history, or condemn him to obscurity?
Roxane Gilbert’s richly detailed historical fiction resurrects an unsung hero with vivid authenticity and heartfelt pathos—a sweeping saga of duty, intrigue, and the human cost of power.
Roxane Gilbert 