A Gentleman-At-Arms: Being Passages in the Life of Sir Christopher Rudd, Knight

A Gentleman-At-Arms is a rollicking 17th-century adventure that opens with the Rudd family fallen on hard times. Young Christopher, the heir to a once-proud name, watches his father labor for a living rather than hold court as their ancestors did. Restless and proud, the boy stows away on a ship bound for the Spanish Main, dreaming of glory. Instead, he finds captivity under a brutal Spanish master, where he learns what it truly costs to be a gentleman in a ruthless world. What follows is a series of daring escapes, swashbuckling encounters with pirates and soldiers, and a slow climb back toward the honor his family name demands. Written in deliberately archaic style as a "found manuscript" from 1641, the novel captures the code of the Elizabethan gentleman: proud, quick with a sword, and unwilling to bow to any man. It's pure adventure fiction in the old tradition, complete with villains to thrash, storms to weather, and a hero who must earn his spurs.