ZULU HART

SYNOPSIS

George Hart is the bastard son of a pillar of the British military establishment and a half Irish, half Zulu actress.

Bullied at school for his suspiciously dark skin and lack of a father, Hart soon learns to fight – and win. At eighteen, his world is shaken by his mother’s revelation that his anonymous fathr is willing to give him a vast inheritance – provided he can prove himself worthy of the prize as an officer in the King’s Dragoon Guards.

At a time when racism and prejudice are rife in Victorian society, Hart struggles to come to terms with his identity. Forced to leave the army, he decides to head to South Africa, and a fresh start.

But George Hart has soldiering in his blood, and once in Africa the urge to serve again is strong. Yet now he is caught between two fierce and unyielding forces as Britain drives towards war with the Zulus. Hart must make a choice – and fight for his life.

ISBN : 9780340953624 Pub Date : 05/03/2009
£12.99 RRP Hardback

WATERSTONE'S NEW TALENT IN FICTION TITLE FOR MARCH 2009

Zulu Hart was chosen by a panel of Waterstone's buyers and booksellers as the best new fiction title published in March 2009.

PRAISE FOR ZULU HART

'Saul David has already shown himself to be a first-rate historian, now he proves to be a masterly story-teller. Zulu Hart left me wanting more . . . much more.' BERNARD CORNWELL

'Gems like this are too rare. I was hooked in ten pages.' CONN IGGULDEN

'A Victorian adventure as big as the veldt and chewier than Buffalo biltong... George Hart cuts an unconventional figure, but Saul David never forgets the story in history - the diplomacy of the period is turned effectively and amusingly into a game of sardines in a hotel and real figures of the period are endowed with motive, intent and dialogue that may be fictitious but are entirely convincing... A real sense of military detail - the stuff that would rate a footnote in an academic history is here the star of the show... So for those listening for the pftzlcchh, the Zulu word for the collapse of a story's plot and the deflation of its characters, tough - you won't find it here.' ROGER PERKINS, Sunday Telegraph

''A rattling good yarn... A compelling, sexy hero who could give Cornwell's Sharpe a run for his money.' KATE SAUNDERS, The Times

'Fans of imperial derring-do will be pleased to hear that the military historian Saul David, a self-confessed admirer of the Flashman books, has now jumped into the breach with a fictional hero of his own... Where David's background in military history really comes in handy is in his descriptions of army protocol, the sweep and detail of the South African landscape and the politics of the Zulu War, about which he has already written an acclaimed factual account. Readers interested in Victorian imperial history, as well as lovers of books like the Prisoner of Zenda, will probably find all this highly entertaining stuff... [It] promises to be a colourful, amusing and successful series.' DOMINIC SANDBROOK, Standard

'Well-written love interests, epic locations and a moulding of historical fact and fiction, Zulu Hart is a great fictional debut. Fans of Bernard Cornwell will love it.' L/Cpl Chris MacCullum, Int. Corps, Soldier Magazine

'David knows his stuff, historically, and there is much to admire in his evocation of 19th Century warfare.’ Mail on Sunday, ****

'‘The details of the l879 campaign are superbly laid out, and this is a real education.’ Toby Clements, Daily Telegraph

'Fantastically grounded... with a great character, George Hart, who's got a bit of Zulu in him and a bit of Irish. A really, really good read. There are lots and lots of heaving bosoms and bastard children as well... It rollicks along, a real page-turner. I can read it knowing all the context is true.' BETTANY HUGHES, The Book Show, Sky Arts 1

Let's hope that Saul's David's new character will be reappearing: Zulu Hart, a young soldier let loose in the Victorian Empire. A terrific adventure and a genre that goes from strength to strength.' RODNEY TROUBRIDGE, Waterstone's Fiction Marketing Planner, Bookseller's Choice for March 2009

'A fast-moving and succinct account of the machinations and betrayals that surrounded that fateful day in 1879,' KATHY STEVENSON, Daily Mail

'Plenty of action and bloody death, incompetent and scheming officers, a brace of lovely women tugging at Hart's heart make for a terrifice yarn.' Sun Herald (Australia)

'Indebted as Zulu Hart is to Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe yarns, this historical novel has a recognisable heritage and therein lies its appeal. George Hart is a Victorian cadet who, on discovering his part-Zulu heritage, finds his loyalties sorely tested in the imminent Zulu war. The action is brisk enough to keep the pages turning, while Saul David's credentials as a military historian lend the conflict both accuracy and authenticity.' Holly Kyte, Sunday Telegraph

Zulu: The Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War

of 1879

The Zulu War of 1879 was the most controversial and brutal British imperial conflict of the nineteenth century.  Launched as a pre-emptive strike against the Zulu kingdom of King Cetshwayo – who had no quarrel with the British Empire – the war was supposed to turn a host of disparate colonies into a South African federation.....

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SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE MONTH

Reviews

‘Superb, brilliant, magisterial… must now be regarded as the definitive history of the Zulu War.  In scholarship, professionalism and insights it towers above Morris. David produces here a splendid, judicious, massively researched, highly coloured yet subtle combination of narrative and analysis.    One of the many delights of David’s marvelous book is the way it enables one to gauge the historical accuracy of the movie Zulu.' Frank McLynn, Literary Review

'Must supersede Donald Morris's bestseller The Washing of the Spears.’  Allan Massie, Daily Telegraph

’A squalid story, told by a historian with an advocate's eye for the damning detail’ Michael Kerrigan, Scotsman

’More concerned with dispelling myths than flag-waving. David is brilliant at showing both sides of the combat and the book includes magnificent accounts of the shambles that was Isandlwana and the feat at arms that followed it at Rourke's Drift.'  Shaun Hutson, Independent on Sunday Books of the Year

The Indian Mutiny: 1857

In 1857 the native troops of the Bengal army rose against their colonial masters. The ensuing insurrection was to become the bloodiest in the history of the British Empire. Combining storytelling with detailed research, Saul David narrates a tale both tragic and compelling. He provides new evidence that the true causes of the mutiny were much more complex, and disturbing, than previously assumed.

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Reviews

‘A remarkable work of synthesis: scholarly, well researched, well paced, readable, and comprehensive… The Indian Mutiny is one of history’s great stories, and in David it has found a chronicler whose knowledge and grasp of arcane military matters is matched by his narrative skills.  A fine achievement by a huge new talent.’  William Dalrymple, Sunday Times

‘Saul David has written the 21st Century version with a brilliant display of literary history that escapes the word “definitive” only out of deference to its inexhaustible subject matter.’  Roger Hutchinson, The Scotsman

‘Enthralling… David tells the story of the mutiny’s violent course and final suppression with almost cinematic vividness and sweep.’  John Adamson, Sunday Telegraph

Mutiny at Salerno: An Injustice Exposed

In late September 1943, almost 200 veterans of General Montgomery’s Eighth Army were arrested for refusing repeated orders to join units of the US Fifth Army at the Salerno beachhead in sourthern Italy.  Within six weeks, all but one had been found guilty of mutiny, their sentences ranging from five years’ penal servitude to death.

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Reviews

'An important book'  Military Illustrated'Mr David has added considerably to the knowledge of the Salerno mutiny.  This book should be read by anyonewith an interest in the episode.'  Prof. Peter Rowe, RUSI Journal

'A thoroughly enjoyable and interesting book and the author makes his case well'  Journal of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst'A detailed account... David is right to stress that the mutiny stemmed from the men's reluctance to fight amongst strangers rather than their reluctance to fight at all, and that many of the mutineers preserved a dignified and soldierly attitude throughout the proceedings.'  Richard Holmes, TLS

Churchill’s Sacrifice of the Highland Division: France 1940

On 12 June 1940, more than a week after the last British troops had been evacuated from Dunkirk, the 51st (Highland) Division, Scotland’s pride, was forced to surrender to General Erwin Rommel at St Valéry-en-Caux in Normandy...... 

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Reviews

A well-researched history’  The Times

David proves conclusively that Churchill allowed the Highlanders to be cut off’  Scotland on Sunday

David does full justice to this “forgotten piece” of history’  Military Illustrated

Prince of Pleasure: The Prince of Wales and the Making of the Regency

Described as a ‘man who would prefer a girl and a bottle to politics and a sermon’, George Augustus Frederick, Prince of Wales, later George IV, was a pivotal and highly controversial figure in the Regency period.  Although his scandalous liaisons with prostitutes and duchesses, a ‘secret’ marriage to his true love – the Catholic Mrs Fitzherbert – and a publicly ridiculed (bigamous) marriage to Caroline of Brunswick threatened to eclipse his contributions to British history, Saul David’s engrossing biography shows a....

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Reviews

‘Lively and lucid… David has insight, scholarly understanding and flashes of wit worthy of the Regency satirists themselves.’  Jenny Uglow, TLS

‘David is extremely good at interweaving the different stands of his narrative.  He has an eye for the apt quotation and the telling anecdoate… He is a historian of enormous promise who might one day become the Hibbert of the next generation.’ Amanda Foreman, Sunday Times

‘I do not think there is a better one-volume account of this rogue prince.  The author knows his stuff, weaves his way deftly through the politicking of the era without making it boring, and splendidly brings to life the endless amours of the man with a long succession of mistresses.’  Roy Strong, Country Life

The homicidal earl

The 7th Earl of Cardigan will forever be remembered as the man who led the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava in 1854.  A fatal event for so many, it was to rejuvenate Cardigan’s life.

Hitherto his career had been dogged by public scandal and professional disgrace: a failed marriage to a divorcée, court appearances for adultery, two courts martial, numerous duels

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Reviews

‘Scintillating… Saul David, still only in his thirties, is obviously a rising star.  His marvelously lucid, and sometimes very witty, narrative is based on sound archival research and written with great stylishness and verve.  It is a book almost better than the heroic old reprobate deserves.’  John Adamson, Sunday Telegraph

‘Better than Simon Schama, Saul David has re-cast history as addictive narrative… This dazzling portrait of an unpalatable figure is not to be missed.’ Independent

Military Blunders: The how and why of military failure

‘Hurray, boys, we’ve got them!’ General Custer reportedly told his troops before the Battle of Little Bighorn.  As this shrewd, controversial book shows, military disaster comes in many forms except, in hindsight, the unexpected.  It both vividly describes some of the worst military blunders perpetrated since the birth of Christ and analyzes the psychological and tactical factors at play to show why they happened. 

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Reviews

‘Fascinating and informed… David’s objective snapshots leave no nationality entirely unscathed.’ Ian Bruce, The Herald

‘Just the book for armchair strategists to mull over during the long winter evenings – and a timely reminder that blundering on the battlefield is no preserve of any one nation.’ Sunderland Echo

‘Hilarious and horrifying.  Some of the disasters described by David scale the off beat comic heights of Monty Python… A graphic account of military incompetence from Roman times to the Gulf War.’  Yorkshire Evening Post

‘No holds barred… very, very funny and at other times quite frightening.’ Shropshire Star

Victoria's wars - the rise of empire

During the period known as the 'Dual Monarchy', from Queen Victoria's accession in 1837 to the death of her husband Albert in 1861, the British Empire almost quintupled in size. Its cities, canals, railways and telegraphs were changing the face of continents. It was well on the way to becoming the greatest empire the world had ever seen. This is the story of that extraordinary quarter century of imperial conquest and the people who made it happen:

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Reviews

‘A great narrative, a powerful story told at an exciting pace that never neglects the colourful details.  It’s a tale of imperial expansion on an epic scale, and despite the many inhuman episodes, Victoria emerges as a most human monarch. *****’ Princess Michael of Kent, Mail on Sunday

‘Saul David, a splendid narrator, interweaves histories of each of the early wars of Victoria’s reign with the Queen’s own experiences… [He] observes similarities between the hubris of the world’s only superpower 150 years ago, and its successor in the 21st Century.  Indeed the Afghan chapters would make salutary reading for George Bush and Tony Blair.’  Max Hastings, Sunday Telegraph

Signed and Dedicated Copies of Saul David's Books

If you would like a signed and dedicated copy of one of Saul's books, contact Richard Foreman at Saul David Books: richardforeman.chalke@hotmail.co.uk

All books are sent by recorded post. Please allow ten days for delivery. Prices are as follows:

Fiction (from 5 March 2009)
Zulu Hart: hardback £11

Non-Fiction
Victoria’s Wars: Rise of Empire: hardback £15.

Postage & Packing
Hardback: £3.95