Under Two Flags

Ouida published this in 1867, when she was one of the most widely read novelists in England, and its pull has not entirely faded. Bertie Cecil is a Guards officer with charm, debts, and no judgment, and when a forgery is pinned on him he lets the world believe he has died rather than expose his brother or drag a woman’s name through scandal. He surfaces again in Algeria as a common soldier in a French regiment, serving under a false name while the past keeps riding after him. Cigarette, the reckless young camp girl who loves him, carries the book to an ending Victorian readers wept over. Sentimental, fast, and completely unembarrassed by itself. Free PDF and EPUB edition available here.