Rifleman Joseph Dando, along with the rest of the 60th Rifles, was battle-hardened in the bloody fighting on Delhi Ridge…
Few of his fellow riflemen are tougher than he is.
By all rights he should be dead.
But his only reminder is an inch-wide scar under his hair and he’s left India behind for the foreign land of China.
After the Indian Mutiny, Dando regarded the China Expedition of 1860 as something of a holiday — surely anything would be better than the horrors witnessed at Delhi Ridge?
Accompanied by his mate Holloran, Dando arrived on Chinese soil with the expectation of a relaxed assignment.
But, like his commanding officers, he has completely underestimated their enemy — none of them could have imagined how fanatically the Chinese would defend Peking.
As they march from Pehtang to Peking, it slowly becomes clear that there will be no easy victory.
Along the way, Dando saves a young woman called Yü, not understanding that Chinese custom dictates that saving a life incurs a lifelong debt.
All he now knows is that the girl insists upon following him everywhere.
As time passes, he comes to welcome her presence, but he knows their unusual relationship must come to an end when he leaves for England once more.
Like Dando On Delhi Ridge, Dando and the Summer Palace depicts the hardships, humour, and loyalties of a soldier in the army that defended Britain’s empire.
One thing is certain, Dando is a far cry from the officers who so often receive history’s attention. He is No Ordinary Soldier…
‘He puts in the bits Kipling leaves out’ —Manchester Evening News
Ronald Bassett was born in 1924 in Chelsea. During the Munich crisis, at age fourteen, he falsified enlistment papers to become a Rifleman of the King's Royal Rifle Corps (60th Rifles). Following active service, he was exposed and discharged. In his records, his colonel noted, ‘A good soldier. I am sorry to lose him.' Undismayed, he immediately entered the Royal Navy, in which he remained for fourteen years, serving in the Arctic, North Atlantic, Mediterranean, the Far East and, later, Korea. He died in 1996 in Surrey. He wrote numerous works of historical fiction, sometimes under the pseudonym of ‘William Clive’ and won a number of awards for his medical and pharmaceutical writing. His other titles are The Tinfish Run, The Neptune Landing, The Pierhead Jump, Fortune Favours the Brave, The Amorous Trooper and Rebecca’s Brat.
Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.
Few of his fellow riflemen are tougher than he is.
By all rights he should be dead.
But his only reminder is an inch-wide scar under his hair and he’s left India behind for the foreign land of China.
After the Indian Mutiny, Dando regarded the China Expedition of 1860 as something of a holiday — surely anything would be better than the horrors witnessed at Delhi Ridge?
Accompanied by his mate Holloran, Dando arrived on Chinese soil with the expectation of a relaxed assignment.
But, like his commanding officers, he has completely underestimated their enemy — none of them could have imagined how fanatically the Chinese would defend Peking.
As they march from Pehtang to Peking, it slowly becomes clear that there will be no easy victory.
Along the way, Dando saves a young woman called Yü, not understanding that Chinese custom dictates that saving a life incurs a lifelong debt.
All he now knows is that the girl insists upon following him everywhere.
As time passes, he comes to welcome her presence, but he knows their unusual relationship must come to an end when he leaves for England once more.
Like Dando On Delhi Ridge, Dando and the Summer Palace depicts the hardships, humour, and loyalties of a soldier in the army that defended Britain’s empire.
One thing is certain, Dando is a far cry from the officers who so often receive history’s attention. He is No Ordinary Soldier…
Praise for Ronald Bassett
‘He puts in the bits Kipling leaves out’ —Manchester Evening News
Ronald Bassett was born in 1924 in Chelsea. During the Munich crisis, at age fourteen, he falsified enlistment papers to become a Rifleman of the King's Royal Rifle Corps (60th Rifles). Following active service, he was exposed and discharged. In his records, his colonel noted, ‘A good soldier. I am sorry to lose him.' Undismayed, he immediately entered the Royal Navy, in which he remained for fourteen years, serving in the Arctic, North Atlantic, Mediterranean, the Far East and, later, Korea. He died in 1996 in Surrey. He wrote numerous works of historical fiction, sometimes under the pseudonym of ‘William Clive’ and won a number of awards for his medical and pharmaceutical writing. His other titles are The Tinfish Run, The Neptune Landing, The Pierhead Jump, Fortune Favours the Brave, The Amorous Trooper and Rebecca’s Brat.
Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.
