Five Young Men of the Fenlands Books

The Squire of the little village of Tatham in the Cambridgeshire Fens is faced with a problem. He has been so unwise as to sire five healthy sons and cannot provide for them from his little estate. The eldest should be his obedient heir, but proves undutiful. The second is disposed of to the Church, but does not much like his fate. A third son wishes to take to the sea, but finds unexpected problems and opportunities on his way. The fourth is an idle lad and has never shone – he is despatched to the Militia where he succeeds all too well. Youngest of all, Caius, is sent off to India, aged sixteen, to join his uncle as a country merchant and finds much to his liking there. Dispersed to all quarters of the world, the five slowly begin to come together again, though not as they expect and their poor father might have hoped.

The five Fairfield brothers are recovering from the family split that has sent four of them over the seas, to India and the Sugar Islands, and will send two of the more unwittingly adventurous to the most dangerous coast on Earth. Only the Reverend Aurelius remains in the Fenland, rigorously returning the family to prosperity and enforcing a proper decorum on the villagers. Marcus is blown before the winds of war into French service and then to English captivity on Antigua, where only his younger brother Julius can save him from exposure as a traitor and the noose. Caius and Felix have separately ended up in Calcutta and the newly captured hills to the south, there to make their fortunes, if they can stay alive long enough. All four have the chance to enrich themselves, provided they do not die first.