The Stolen March Explained

The Stolen March
Author:Dornford Yates
Genre:Novel
Publisher:Ward Lock & Co[1]
Release Date:1926
Media Type:Print
Pages:319

The Stolen March is a 1926 fantasy novel by the English author Dornford Yates (Cecil William Mercer), first serialised in The Windsor Magazine.

Plot

The novel starts credibly enough, with the return of Simon and Patricia Beaulieu (previously seen in "Simon", one of the stories in As Other Men Are). Simon falls ill, and on medical advice the couple take a relaxed caravan holiday, being driving down through France to the fictional country of Etchechuria, lying in the Pyrenees between France and Spain. En route they are joined by Eulalie (previously seen in chapter VIII of Jonah & Co, 1922) and Pomfret Tudor. There, fantastic things start to happen: they are addressed by a mule speaking English, and find themselves in a land peopled by animated illustrations and nursery rhyme characters. The tone becomes darker, and some of the characters start to develop murderous intent.

Background

Mercer himself loved The Stolen March, but recognised that many readers did not. He later said that the editor of The Windsor Magazine would probably never have accepted the novel for serialisation had he realised at the start where the story would ultimately lead.

Chapters

ChapterBook TitleWindsor TitleDateVolumeIssuePagesIllustrator
IThe Open RoadThe Paying Of PaulAugust 1925LXII368241-255Norah Schlegel
IIEnter PomfretThe Rule Of ThreeSeptember 1925LXII369361-375Norah Schlegel
IIIBlind CountryThe Way Of A Man With A MuleOctober 1925LXII370479-492Norah Schlegel
IVLove Among The MountainsOn VelvetNovember 1925LXII371589-602Norah Schlegel
VBlood RoyalAll On A Summer's DayDecember 1925LXIII37259-76Norah Schlegel
VIPublican And SinnerUp To DateJanuary 1926LXIII373180-195Norah Schlegel
VIIThe Cloven HoofThe Short LaneFebruary 1926LXIII374275-291Norah Schlegel
VIIIGathering CloudsThe Peck Of PepperMarch 1926LXIII375405-419Norah Schlegel
IXKing, Queen And KnaveLe Roy Le VeutApril 1926LXIII376540-554Norah Schlegel
XHue And CryLe Roy Le Veut/The Last JestApril-May 1926LXIII376-377554-560 & 649-655Norah Schlegel
XIDoloresThe Last JestMay 1926LXIII377655-667Norah Schlegel

Critical reception

Mercer’s autobiographer AJ Smithers, writing in 1982, considered that this book contains some of the author’s best pastoral writing, and that some of it is very funny indeed.

Sequel

Mercer reported that he had "had a great many requests that I should turn again to Etchechuria" and had begun writing a book entitled The Tempered Wind which had reached fifty-one pages when his "subconscious brain stopped dead", and he eventually abandoned the project. [2]

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Web site: British Library Item details . primocat.bl.uk . 16 May 2020.
  2. Book: Yates, Dornford . B-Berry and I Look Back. . 1958 . London . page 278.