Knights, Chivalry, and Sherlock Holmes?

I wanted to start this with, "what young man doesn't love Sherlock Holmes?" I then thought for a moment that there are probably a lot of young men who have no idea who Sherlock Holmes is. Or at a bare minimum, they picture Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. I am not knocking that series by the way; it is extremely well done. I still prefer the Granada Television series from the 80's to early 90's with Freddie Eynsford... uh Jeremy Brett. Great series and adaptations.

I have been reading the Holmes stories since I was about 8 years old. I bought an anthology collection of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock stories at a bookfair while we were stationed in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. I couldn't put it down. I have the same collection downloaded on audible, engaging to listen to, and well produced. Sadly, somewhere in transit over the years the book has disappeared. 

Imagine my surprise when my wife recently recommended that I read Sir Arthur's historical novel "The White Company." I had no idea he had written this book. I had recently completed "Best Served Cold," by Joe Abercrombie and was complaining about finding a new fantasy novel to read. My wife figured that this book by Doyle would fit that bill. An historical novel centered around the hundred years war, Knights, battle, honor, love. Yes, perfect choice... well, I still have not read it. 

Intrigued by the idea that Sir Arthur had written such material, I hopped on the great google machine, or the everlasting vortex of curated misinformation, to find out what other materials he had written. I stumbled on the title "Sir Nigel." The story is focused on the emergence and development of the titular character, Nigel Loring. Nigel is one of the central characters in "The White Company." After finding this information, I felt I needed to read this work prior to beginning the former. I was pleasantly surprised. 

I don't really know why, but I expected this book to be kind of a letdown. The Sherlock Holmes series are really well written, so this should be as well, but it was Doyle's experience as a physician that really brought Holmes' character to twisted life. How would this work with a story about knights, the Black Prince, and the hundred years war? Really darned well.  

The story has feats of heroism, chivalry, love, honor, battle, deceit, thievery, and death. It's probably the kind of story that modern authors would eschew because men simply don't behave that way, well at least not anymore. Glorifying honor, chivalry, bravery, and the like. Yes, that's all in there, but there's also reality. As Nigel eagerly awaits battle to prove himself, his mentor subtly points out that war is not all it is painted out to be. Nigel engages, learns a valuable life lesson, and lives to fight on another day. I wish I had read this long ago. I will recommend it to my boys.

As I think about it after finishing, I think we need more stories about men like Sir Nigel. Stories and characters to give young men something to aspire to. Noble and courageous characters who are selfless, honorable... like Aragorn in Lord of the Rings. Nigel has that to him, he's worth a read. I enjoyed this book very much. I am looking forward to picking up "The White Company."