Nicholas Carey by Ronald WelchMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
If you want boys to read and to enjoy history this series about the Carey family is one of the best around. Starting with 'Knight Crusader', which won the Carnegie medal, the series follow various male members of the Carey family right up to the Great War - WWI - in 'Tank Commander'.
The Carey family are Welsh aristocracy in the best Welsh tradition of close family relationships and that includes the servants. In 'Nicholas Cary' we meet the Cary family in the 1850s. Nicholas is an indolent young man with an officer's commission in the 1st Foot. But he is a typical buy in officer in that he leaves the soldiering to his non-commissioned officers and regular sergeants. Indolent and wealthy Nicholas is jolted into action when he has to rescue his cousin from his follies with the Italian patriots (terrorists in modern terms) which involves them in French politics. But it is the outbreak of the Crimean war which completes his transformation into a serious officer and useful member of society.
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