A Modern Telemachus
1889
A historical adventure born from Charlotte M. Yonge's gift for shaping young hearts and minds. When the Comtesse de Bourke receives word that her husband has been appointed Ambassador to Sweden, she gathers her children, Estelle and young Ulick, called Ulysse, and sets out across early 18th-century Europe to reach him. The journey is fraught with danger: the political landscape bristles with Jacobite intrigue and courtly manipulation, and the family must navigate treacherous terrain both geographical and political. Worst of all, the Comtesse must leave her youngest son behind, a sacrifice that haunts the road ahead. Through the children's wide eyes, we witness a continent in turmoil transformed into a landscape of wonder and peril. Yonge, who shaped Victorian childhoods with tales of courage and virtue, infuses this lesser-known work with the same devotion to family, faith, and moral fortitude that made her name synonymous with wholesome, thrilling fiction. A story of separation and reunion, of children forced to grow wise before their time.
