'A thinking man's adventure novel, where sword fights and tales of derring-do are interwoven with wonderful passages of poetry and gems of historical and cultural information'
Guy Florita,
'Our hero is an ex-soldier [who] has a certain fatalistic melancholy, as well as a voracious reading habit. Wolfish grey eyes, battle scars, a warrior's code of honour and irreproachable gallantry complete the outfit . . . Perez-Reverte is a huge admirer of Alexandre Dumas; here, like his hero, he has produced a very high-class entertainment'
Steven Poole,
'Perez-Reverte is very good at evoking the atmosphere of a teeming, corrupt and jaded Madrid, unhappily enduring the reign of Philip the Fourth in the last decades of Spain's imperial glory. He is superb at the precisely choreographed sword fights'
Toby Clements,
'Arturo Perez-Reverte has streamlined his prose to rapier point and strikes home with a dark and moving work. This is as gripping as any swashbuckler, with Spain's Golden Age tellingly resurrected, but it is a more sobering tale of honour, responsibility and political machination. Captain Alatriste's powerful personality fairly radiates from the page. Highly recommended'
'A pleasure of swash, buckle and atmosphere, along with tidy infomercials on topics such as the poetry, theater and the traditions of the day'
'Equipped with a quick-witted, charismatic hero and much to provoke and goad him, Mr Perez-Reverte has the makings of a flamboyantly entertaining series.
'From the 19th century on, readers searching for adventure have always loved tales of flashing steel, of duels to the death on moonlit parapets, of swashbucklers with ironic smiles and perfect manners . . . Arturo Perez-Reverte now adds Captain Alatriste'
'Splendidly paced and filled with a breathtaking but not overwhelming sense of the history and spirit of the age, this is popular entertainment at its best: the characters have weight and depth, the dialogue illuminates the action as it furthers the story and the film-worthy plot is believable throughout'
'Perez-Reverte's moody, wounded semi-hero ... is a whole-cloth invention out of 17th-century Madrid that has led to a 21st-century literary phenomenon ... introduces a charismatic, complicated leading man the clash and dash are thrilling; the swordplay is a bonus'
'From first word to last, this novel, sure to be a hit, fairly drips adventure off the page'
Arturo Perez-Reverte lives near Madrid. Originally a war correspondent, he now writes fiction full time. In 2003 he was elected to the Spanish Royal Academy. His website can be visited at www.perez-reverte.com
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Purity of Blood Captain Alatriste The Queen of the South The Nautical Chart The Fencing Master The Seville Communion The Club Dumas The Flanders Panel
CAPTAIN ALATRISTE
ARTURO PEREZ-REVERTE
Translated from the Spanish by Margaret Sayers Peden
A PHOENIX PAPERBACK
First published in Great Britain in 2005
by Weidenfeld & Nicolson This paperback edition published in 2006 by Phoenix, an imprint of Orion Books Ltd, Orion House, 5 Upper St Martin's Lane, London WC2H 9EA
13579 10 8642
Copyright © 1996 by Arturo Perez-Reverte English translation copyright © 2005 by Margaret Sayers Peden Copyright © Published by arrangement with Alatriste S.L.
The right of Arturo Perez-Reverte to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13 978-0-7538-2087-2 ISBN-10 0-7538-2087-0
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives pic
The Orion Publishing Group's policy is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products and made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The logging and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.
www.orionbooks.co.uk
For our grandparents Sebastian, Amelia, Pepe, and Cala: for life, books and memories
