Revolution Quartet Books in Order

The Revolution Quartet tracks two towering figures of European history from youth to the fields of Waterloo: Napoleon Bonaparte and Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington. Instead of choosing one side, the books move back and forth between the French and British camps.

In Young Bloods the story begins with both men as awkward younger sons in families that do not quite know what to do with them. We see Napoleon as a sharp, driven Corsican outsider in the French army, and Arthur as a quiet, underestimated officer learning his trade in Ireland and India. Their careers rise in parallel as revolutionary France tears up the old order.

The Generals follows Napoleon through his Italian and Egyptian campaigns while Arthur fights in India. The novels show how battle success reshapes each man’s sense of himself, and how politics and ambition push them toward greater risks and larger commands.

In Fire and Sword Napoleon crowns himself emperor and tries to tighten his grip on Europe. Arthur, meanwhile, returns from India a seasoned commander and begins to make his name on European battlefields. The book takes in Trafalgar, continental campaigns and the first moves that will lead to a British army on the Iberian Peninsula.

The final volume, The Fields of Death, carries both men through the grinding years of war that end at Waterloo. Napoleon faces overstretched armies, failed invasions and growing resistance. Arthur builds coalitions, fights set‑piece battles in Spain and Portugal, and ultimately confronts his long‑time rival in Belgium.

Across all four books, Scarrow mixes major battles with quieter moments: family tensions, political scheming in Paris and London, and the private doubts of two men whose decisions cost thousands of lives. The result is a broad, accessible tour through the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars seen from both sides of the hill.