London 1759 and Jack's life is easy. A scholar at Westminster School, a master with cricket bat or billiard cue, the leader of a gang of bucks about the Town, he has both a girl he worships ¿and a courtesan teaching him the more basic arts of love. Yet he plans to give up all carousing, sit the examinations for Cambridge, find a career in any field he chooses.
If he can just stay out of trouble for one night¿
From the billiard halls and brothels of London to a clash of Empires on the Plains of Abraham, Jack life is forever altered by the tragedies of that night. Through duels, battles, frantic escapes and a brutal winter spent in a cave in Canada, Jack learns the truth of his father's words¿ as well as a dozen things to do with a dead bear. A year on, the schoolboy will vanish, a man appear.
But first he must learn to kill. To come of age, Jack Absolute must be blooded.
A coming-of-age novel that ticks all the boxes - adventure, drama, wit, style and sheer enjoyment. (Shari Low DAILY RECORD)
'C.C. Humphreys brings the ribald, pleasure-seeking excesses of the regency period gloriously to life in this splendid romp... great rollicking fun' (YORKSHIRE EVENING POST)
'[Humphreys] brilliantly combines meticulous research with a breakneck pace and a terrific sense of humour... If I read a more enjoyable historical novel this year you can stick me in a snowed up cave with only bear-meat to chew on and a copy of Hamlet to keep me sane.' (Sally Sigmond HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW)
¿As swash-buckling as a young Errol Flynn, languidly escaping death with the ease of a teenage James Bond, this is a roaring adventure whose pages are remorselessly consumed. In this prequel, Humphreys begins the finest series of historical novels since O¿Brian.¿ (GOOD BOOK GUIDE)
'Rip-roaring' (NOTTINGHAM EVENING POST)
'It is not often that one looks forward to a prequel with such yearning, but in this case THE BLOODING OF JACK ABSOLUTE is one those rare exceptions to the rule... He is a swashbuckler to rival all others and has the soul of a warrior. He is for me a devastating character that grows on you page by page to the extent that you crave more. Settle down, enjoy, and sink into the exciting and somewhat vulnerable life of spy-extraordinaire Jack Absolute.' (Ayo Onatade SHOTS)