The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer

An army officer with a ready excuse for awkward encounters, Harry Lorrequer recalls camps, mess tables and the monotony of garrison duty. Charles Lever builds his novel around this talkative narrator and a succession of social adventures. Its chapter headings move between Cork, Dublin, Calais, Paris and Munich, mixing private theatricals, courtship, duels and chance meetings on the road. The prefatory letter sets a playful tone, as Harry answers complaints about his storytelling with further anecdotes.

In Calais, Harry tries to escape a troublesome travel arrangement. First he imagines feigning illness; then he pays a mechanic to disable Kilkee’s carriage for a day. At supper, he presents himself as busily preparing for their departure. That gap between Harry’s schemes and his polite conversation supplies the comedy. Readers drawn to an episodic novel of army society and travel will find a narrator whose efforts to manage appearances make ordinary arrangements unexpectedly complicated.