The Great Swindle

Cover Type: Hardcover
Book Condition: As New
Jacket Condition: As New
Publisher: MacLehose Press
Publisher Place: London
Publisher Year: 2015
Edition: Reprint

Description: 461 pages. Book and Jacket appear to have hardly been read and are both in As new condition throughout.

Publishers Description: 1918. The war on the Western Front is all but over. Wanting to impress his superiors, an ambitious officer, Lieutenant Henri DAulnay Pradelle, sends two soldiers over the top and shoots them in the back to incite their comrades to attack the German lines.When Albert Maillard reaches the bodies and realises how they must have died, the Lieutenant pushes him into a shellhole in the hope of silencing him for good. But Albert is rescued by a fellow soldier, Edouard Péricourt, who takes a piece of shrapnel in the face for his troubles. In the field hospital, Edouard refuses cosmetic surgery and will not face his family in his current state. Albert finds him a new identity and informs Edouards wealthy father of his sons ‘death.Back in civilian life, Albert becomes Edouards carer. A young girl, Louise, is Edouards salvation. In her company his talent for art is rekindled, as is his sense of mischief. He devises a confidence trick that can make them a fortune taking money for never-to-be-built war memorials from gullible towns. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Pradelle has married Edouards sister Madeleine and is running a scam of his own

ISBN: 9780857053244