A young cornet in the famed Scots Greys finds himself battlefield and brokenhearted in equal measure. Sir Basil Gauntlet rides into the European theater of the Seven Years' War with his regiment, but the real battle may be the one fought in the heart. Rivalry among officers, the brutal education of a young soldier, and a love that defies the chaos of war create a portrait of 18th-century military life that crackles with intensity. Grant, himself a veteran, renders the noise and smoke of cavalry charges with terrifying intimacy, while never losing sight of the human cost: the friendships forged in blood, the honors that wound, and the romances that bloom in the shadow of mortality. This is military fiction stripped of glory's polish, showing what it means to be second to none in a profession where tomorrow is never guaranteed.
