A Son of the Rock

Cassell, 1971, 525 p.

The fifth of Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles, featuring the life and exploits of Francis Crawford of Lymond, Duc de Sevigny.

Having killed his adversary Graham Reid Malett in the last instalment, Pawn in Frankincense, while Ambassador of France to the court of Suleiman the Magnificent in Ottoman Turkey, Lymond, with the aid of his mistress Güzel, has now travelled to Moscow to find employment for his company of mercenaries under Prince Ivan Vasilievich, the Tsar of All Russia (known in English as Ivan the Terrible, but never named as such in the text.)

There is first, though, a focus on the activities of young Philippa Somerville, who had travelled to Turkey to help retrieve Lymond’s illegitimate son from Mallet’s clutches and who, after spending time in the Sultan’s seraglio (somewhat improbably without suffering any undue attentions) had, at his insistence, contracted a paper – and unconsummated – marriage with Lymond in order to protect her reputation. Philippa brought the child, known as Kuzum, to Lymond’s home of Culter in Scotland but now has a position as a lady in waiting to Queen Mary in England. Intrigued by Lymond’s family’s reticence about his origins she has been inquiring into his background and obtained two differing accounts of his actual parentage.

In Moscow, Lymond soon becomes the Tsar’s right-hand man, the Voevoda Bolshoia, and sets about modernising the army. All this is put in jeopardy when the Tsar decides to send an envoy, Osep Nepeja, to England to purchase modern armaments and supplies, tasking Lymond with securing these.

Behind the scenes machinations of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, (a granddaughter of Henry VIII and mother of Lord Darnley) are a threat to Lymond through all this.

When Lymond states his firm intention of returning to Russia, Guthrie, a member of his company says of the Russians, “They are a nation accustomed to violent, unreasoning rule, and when it yokes them again, they have no instinct to withstand it, to beat it down and to replace it with sanity.” To which Lymond replies that given time that change could be achieved. We’re still waiting.

It’s all very well researched and incident packed but there is an opacity to proceedings. Dunnett withholds certain information from the reader somewhat unfairly and there is often a lack of clarity to the dialogue.

However, only one instalment, Checkmate, remains unread by me.

Pedant’s corner:-  mortised (morticed,) a missing comma before a piece of direct speech. “The crowd were already pressing into the warehouse” (The crowd was already pressing…,) reindeers (the plural of reindeer is  reindeer,) gutteral (guttural,) complajnts (complaints,) Kholgomory (elsewhere always Kholmogory,) “Turkey will not always remain the power; that she has been the secular power of the Pope is also in question” (the semicolon is misplaced ‘Turkey will not always remain the power that she has been;  the secular power of the Pope is also in question’.) “‘Right?’ said Lymon .” (‘“Right?” said Lymond.’) cracklure (craquelure.) “‘I thought we could surrounded the Tsar with’” (could surround the Tsar.)