Broad Highway

Peter Vibart, freshly orphaned from Oxford with exactly ten guineas to his name, decides to walk the length of Kent rather than face the grim prospects that await a man without connections. What begins as a solitary amble through hop fields and ancient villages becomes a cascade of misadventures: near-drownings, mistaken identities, stolen watches, and an ill-advised boxing match with a farmhand. Yet for every misfortune, the broad highway offers compensations - roasted chestnuts with a gypsy, a midnight rescue, drinks with a sympathetic vicar. Then comes The Woman, as Peter calls her, and everything grows complicated. She leads him toward deeper waters still, into a world of greater stakes where his ten guineas and quick wits will be tested to their limit. Farnol writes with the easy warmth of a summer afternoon, his prose unhurried, his humor dry, his affection for the English countryside evident on every page. This is a novel that believes serendipity is the true architect of a life.