Beau Geste is the classic adventure novel by British writer P. C. Wren. The book starts with a gruesome discovery at Fort Zinderneuf, where the walls are manned only by corpses of French Foreign Legion soldiers. The book subsequently relates the adventures of three English brothers who enlist separately in the French Foreign Legion following the theft of a valuable gem, ‘The Blue Water’, from their family home. Life in the Legion is dangerous as they deal with the unwelcome attention of sadistic commanding officer, Colour-Sergeant Lejaune, and battle with fierce Tuareg rebels. Eventually the mystery of the missing sapphire is solved but not before events take a final tragic turn.
With a special foreword from Pullitzer Prize winner, Michael Dirda, who wrote, “Beau Geste may never join any teacher-approved canon, but so what? It belongs, instead, on that special shelf with The Three Musketeers, The Prisoner of Zenda and Captain Blood.”
BEAU GESTE Hardback Edition
Percival Christopher Wren (1 November 1875 – 22 November 1941) was born in Deptford, South London. The son of a schoolmaster he is best remembered for Beau Geste, one of 33 novels and short story collections that he wrote.
After studying at St Catherine’s College Oxford, he joined the Indian Education Service in 1903, subsequently becoming a Captain in the Poona Volunteer Rifles, although his service was terminated in 1915 due to sickness. It is not clear if or when he spent time in the French Foreign Legion, but once back in England he concentrated on his career as a writer. His literary influences included H. Rider Haggard, G.A. Henty and Frederick Marryat. Beau Geste is regarded as one of the great English language adventure novels.