The Bastard (novel)

Did You Know?

• The television adaptation aired on May 22 and 29, 1978.
• The miniseries was part of Operation Prime Time.
• Andrew Stevens played the lead role of Philippe Charboneau/Philip Kent.

Plot summary

The novel opens in November 1770 near Chavaniac, Auvergne, France. Philippe Charboneau, the seventeen-year-old illegitimate son of James Amberly, the 6th Duke of Kent, sets out for England with his mother, Marie, to demand his birthright. Upon arrival, the Duke’s family rejects his claim, and a fight breaks out in which Philippe severely injures the Duke’s legitimate son, Roger Amberly, leaving his hand crippled. Stranded without money to return to France, mother and son escape to London.

There, Philippe learns the printing trade and dreams of emigrating to America. A visit from Benjamin Franklin to the print shop strengthens this ambition, though Marie opposes it. A hired gunman sent by the vengeful Roger tries to shoot Philippe, forcing an immediate flight to America. During the voyage, Marie dies of dysentery and is buried at sea.

Philippe anglicizes his name to Philip Kent. Arriving in Boston destitute, he is homeless and starving until Benjamin Edes, editor of the Boston Gazette, gives him work. Through this job, Philip meets Abraham Ware, a contributor to the paper, and his daughter Anne, whom he begins to court. Philip takes part in the Boston Tea Party and enlists in the Boston Grenadier Company under Henry Knox.

After the Tea Party, punitive measures are imposed, including the Quartering Act, which forces Abraham Ware to house a British sergeant, George Lumden, in his home. Lumden falls for the Wares’ cook, Daisy O’Brian, and decides to desert. Philip, wanting Lumden’s musket, encourages the desertion and hires a local boy to help steal the weapon. The boy betrays Philip, reporting Lumden to his commander—Roger Amberly.

Roger arrives at the Wares’ house, finds Anne, and attacks Philip when he appears. Philip stabs his half-brother in the stomach with a bayonet and flees with Lumden to Daisy’s father’s farm near Concord, Massachusetts.