Modesty Jack follows a British Intelligence Agent assigned to London who ends up in Cairo helping the Egyptians escape control of Constantinople. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

I was inspired by a curious incident reported in Roy MacLaren’s Canadians on the Nile. In 1885, Canada sent a contingent of riverboat men to Egypt to aid British troops going up the Nile to rescue General Charles Gordon in Khartoum. South of Wadi Halfa, in what is now Sudan, one of the Canadian boatmen left camp for a few hours of quiet.

At a nearby oasis, he heard someone singing ‘Un Canadien Errant,’ a Quebecois folk song. The boatman found what he believed was a Bedouin, singing in French. The Bedouin explained that he was from Quebec, had jumped ship in Alexandria, and had been captured by Bedouins. He had learned Arabic and
earned to love the desert.

I thought his explanation unlikely – more like the plot of Desert Song, in fact. Wadi Halfa is nearly 1000 miles south of the Mediterranean. Why was this man alone? And why was he so conveniently near the Gordon Relief Expedition? It struck me that the man might have been a spy. If that were so, one question was obvious: how could a Canadian end up a spy in the Sudan?

That’s how Jack Torrance came into being.

What were some of the trials that you felt were important to highlight Jack’s development?

When we meet Jack, he’s young and inexperienced. He’s an army officer cadet, intelligent and capable, but he’s a puppy.

Unbeknownst to Jack, he’s been recommended for a political assignment, mostly because he’s good looking, can speak French, and has a reasonably level head. Initially, he’s just sent to deliver an invitation to the Governor General, the Crown’s representative in Canada, and the country’s titular head of state.

There is an accident and Jack saves the life of the Governor General’s wife. The accident was a real event, and the woman was Princess Louise, Queen Victoria’s daughter. Jack becomes part of the vice-regal household – a boy from rural Ontario adapting to a very different world.

Jack learns to deal with threats to life, social obligations, diplomacy, and the pitfalls of political problems. In just a few months in 1880, Jack finds himself immersed in actual historical events – from society balls and meeting the rich and famous to the very real danger of a plot against the lives of Princess Louise and her brother Prince Leopold.

Jack’s journey is bumpy and he makes mistakes. He realizes that he can think for himself and that he needs to continue to learn. But he does get the job done and earns praise in the right quarters – and opportunities he could never have dreamt of.

What intrigues you about this time period enough to write such a gripping novel?

A young man in 1880 could easily live to see the end of the Second World War. Imagine the changes that took place, most of them driven by expanding technologies.

Speed changed how the world was evolving – the simple telephone conversation revolutionized everything from politics to journalism. Ships could cross the Atlantic in under a week. Trains could take you anywhere in times unimaginable a generation before.

Nation states were solidifying their power, income, and prestige. The Kingdom of Italy was only twenty years old. Even Canada, just thirteen years old in 1880, was older than the new German Empire and the new French Republic. Soon, speed and growth led to jockeying for position in the world. European players sought colonial empires, secure trade routes, and political influence.

Canada, a nation of 4 million, had become the size of an empire in just 15 years. It was building a trans-
continental railway twice as long as the American railroads to the Pacific. The government had no money to spare, certainly none for Britain’s imperial adventures.

The Prime Minister chooses Jack Torrance to spy for Canada. On Britain. Jack’s successes surpass the Prime Minister’s wildest imaginings. Through his royal connections, Jack ends up seconded to the fledgling British Intelligence Service, privy to everything going on.

Funny, sexy, and surprising, The Scandalous Memoirs of General John Torrance is a series about a young hero-by-accident in extraordinary times – beginning when the boys of the Regency played with the generals of the Great War, when steamships had sails, and when one man’s adventures could still change the world.

What will the next book in that series be about, and when will it be published?

Book Three, One-Eyed Jack, is about a major episode in the Scramble for Africa. An 1884 conference in Berlin saw the leaders of European nations sit down and literally draw a new map for Africa. This part’s for France. That part’s for Germany. This is for Britain.

Not everyone agrees.

The future has been foretold. A guide – the Mahdi – will free Soudan, free Egypt, and topple the corrupt Ottoman Empire. Soudan falls to the Mahdi. The Khedive in Cairo hires Englishman General Charles Gordon to go to Khartoum and evacuate the Egyptians and Europeans trapped within the walled city. Gordon gets there but can’t get out.

Fuelled by jingoism in the press, the English mount an expedition to save Gordon. In advance goes Jack – a wild card, a one-eyed jack – to reason with two madmen, Gordon and the Mahdi, and get everyone out alive.

Publication is set for December 2024.

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