Denounced: A Romance

In Short

Set in the immediate aftermath of the 1745 Jacobite uprising, Denounced follows two Scottish fugitives, Bertie Elphinston and Douglas Sholto, who flee the defeat at Culloden only to land in a web of personal and political betrayal. Traced by the deceitful Lord Fordingbridge—a turned Jacobite who covets both safety and another man’s wife—the refugees escape across the English Channel to France. There, secret identities, murderous vengeance, and the dreaded dungeons of the Bastille collide. John Bloundelle-Burton’s novel endures as a moody, detailed historical romance that captures the paranoia of mid-eighteenth-century exile and the terrible weight of hidden sins.

The Story

The story opens in London shortly after the disastrous battle of Culloden. Bertie Elphinston and Douglas Sholto, two young Scottish officers who fought for Prince Charles Edward Stuart, are hiding in a waterfront house in Wandsworth. They rely on the counsel of Archibald Sholto, a Jesuit priest and Douglas's brother, who warns them that King George’s agents are searching the city and erecting gallows on Kennington Common. Unknown to the fugitives, the treacherous Lord Fordingbridge—a former Jacobite who has renounced his cause—informs government officers of their exact location.

Fordingbridge’s malice is driven by personal obsession as much as political survival. He is married to Katherine Fane, but Kate despises him, harboring deep affection for her childhood circle of friends, including Bertie. At a masked garden party at Vauxhall, Bertie encounters Kate in disguise and warns her of the gathering danger. Recognizing the immediate peril, the Jacobites adopt disguises, slip past the King's Guards, and plot their escape. Meanwhile, Kate discovers the depth of her husband's deceit. Accompanied by witnesses, she publicly confronts Fordingbridge, renounces her marriage, discards his gifts, and declares him dead to her. In retaliation, Fordingbridge makes a shocking counter-claim: he hints that their marriage was invalid because he was secretly an ordained priest.

The refugees flee to France, establishing themselves in the Jacobite exile community surrounding the French court. Yet distance brings no safety. Driven by madness and revenge, Fordingbridge follows them to the Continent under an assumed identity. On a dark night near Amiens, he ambushes and murders Douglas Sholto. Unaware of the killer's true identity, local authorities arrest two Gascon rogues carrying stolen jewels, while Fordingbridge escapes into hiding. Consumed by guilt and insanity, the killer enters a church and confesses his crime to a priest behind the screen—only to realize with horror that the confessor whose voice he hears is Archibald Sholto, the victim's own brother. Bound by the inviolable seal of the confessional, Archibald cannot expose the murderer to the law, but the psychological torment drives Fordingbridge to complete mental collapse.

Disaster strikes Bertie when royal authorities issue a lettre de cachet, dragging him off to the Bastille. Imprisoned in its gloomy towers, Bertie forms a silent communication system with a fellow captive, Falmy, tapping out messages across the courtyard windows. Inside the fortress, he also meets the aged Marquis de Chevagny, who has spent decades imprisoned for penning a long-forgotten lampoon. When the austere magistrate D'Argenson conducts nocturnal examinations of the prisoners, Chevagny is granted a belated release, only to die of sheer joy moments after securing his freedom.

Fordingbridge's past finally catches up to him through French justice for separate crimes, and he is condemned to execution. Before dying on the scaffold, his cryptic last words point toward Bertie’s hidden location. Kate and her allies unravel the clue, secure Bertie’s release from the Bastille, and reunite with him as the political storm surrounding Prince Charles Edward’s eventual arrest in Paris brings an end to their long years of flight.

How It Unfolds

The hidden hearth Bertie Elphinston and Douglas Sholto lie low in an ancient house near the Thames, while Archibald Sholto brings word of trials in the Tower and gallows on Kennington Common.

The informer's bargain Lord Fordingbridge visits British military authorities to trade the precise descriptions and Wandsworth address of his former Jacobite comrades for government favor.

A night at Vauxhall Disguised in a headsman’s costume among the illuminated arbours of Vauxhall Gardens, Bertie meets Katherine Fordingbridge, setting in motion a series of rapid evasions.

The bitter denunciation Kate confronts her husband before witnesses, flinging his gifts aside and declaring their union broken, only for Fordingbridge to claim his secret priesthood voids her respectable standing.

Flight across the Channel Stripped of their English security, the exiles escape to France, seeking refuge among the Jacobite households surrounding the French court and the Paris ministry.

Blood on the Amiens road Fordingbridge stalks the exiles into France and brutally assassinates Douglas Sholto, setting off a frantic search by French guards and Gascon opportunists.

Terror in the confessional Hiding near Amiens, the murderer seeks absolution in a darkened church, only to realize mid-confession that the priest behind the screen is the victim's brother, Archibald.

Behind yellow damask Bertie is arrested under a secret warrant and brought into the Bastille, where he faces the tremulous Governor De Launey and the fearsome magistrate D'Argenson.

Signals between windows Stuck in cold isolation, Bertie learns to spell out messages using paper letters shown across the courtyard to Falmy, a despairing long-term prisoner.

The scaffold and the secret Fordingbridge meets a terrifying end on the French scaffold, leaving behind a half-uttered clue that allows Kate and Sir Charles Ames to locate Bertie and secure his freedom.

The People

• Bertie Elphinston wants safety for his fellow Jacobites and a life restored after rebellion; tested by hunted flight and months in the Bastille, he remains steadfast, emerging from prison resilient and united with those he loves.
• Lord Fordingbridge seeks self-preservation, political immunity, and absolute possession of his wife; thwarted by her disdain, his cowardice drives him to betrayal, murder, and eventual madness before he dies on the scaffold.
• Katherine (Kate) Fane / Lady Fordingbridge wants honor and freedom from a fraudulent marriage; she transforms from a frightened young woman into a resolute figure who publicly repudiates her husband and tirelessly tracks down Bertie’s place of confinement.
• Archibald Sholto wants to protect his young comrades and serve his religious duty; after hearing his brother's killer confess under sacred seal, he endures agonizing moral tension between priestly vows and earthly justice.
• Douglas Sholto seeks escape from the aftermath of Culloden; haunted by premonitions of doom, his journey ends prematurely when he is murdered on the road from Amiens.
• Jourdan de Launey wants order within his fortress; the old, shaking Governor of the Bastille presents a mild, polite facade that masks the unyielding tyranny of his prison.
• The Marquis de Chevagny wants only his long-lost liberty after decades in a cell; when freedom finally arrives, the shock of joy proves too great for his frail heart.

In Its Own Voice

When the fugitive Jacobites prepare to slip past the night patrols, the practical realities of flight require instant, unglamorous shifts in appearance:

"Off with that hat and wig," said Jemmy McGlowrie, offering his own gear to Archibald. "Mine is but a rusty bob and a poor hat; both yours are very good."

Inside the Bastille, spatial isolation turns the sight of another human face into a desperate lifeline across the cold masonry:

"I have made many friends at your window, and lost them all. Soon I shall lose you," signaled Falmy, his face working piteously before he turned away in tears.

Even inside the church where a murderer seeks refuge, the sacred sanctuary offers no relief from the horrors of memory:

"As I brushed against her in the street she shuddered and drew back from me. Something revealed that one accursed had touched her."

What It's Really About

Denounced explores the destructive nature of betrayal—not merely political treason against a crown, but the intimate ruptures of personal trust. Bloundelle-Burton contrasts the honorable loyalty of the defeated Jacobites with the moral degradation of Lord Fordingbridge, whose initial turncoat politics slide naturally into domestic deceit and murder.

The book also grapples with the weight of inescapable secrets and spiritual dilemmas. Through Archibald Sholto's ordeal in the confessional, the narrative examines the terrible burden of knowing a crime's author while bound by sacred oath to remain silent. Set against the backdrop of absolute monarchies, arbitrary lettres de cachet, and atmospheric dungeons, the story reflects on how individual lives are crushed or reshaped by the cold machinery of state power.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy classic historical adventure in the vein of Robert Louis Stevenson, Alexandre Dumas, or Rafael Sabatini will find Denounced a satisfying discovery. Bloundelle-Burton writes with sharp narrative momentum and a keen eye for period detail, seamlessly moving from the fog-bound river alleys of eighteenth-century Wandsworth to the glittering, dangerous masquerades of Vauxhall and the grim, thick-walled interior of the Bastille.

The novel's appeal lies in its effective blend of political intrigue and melodrama. It does not shy away from the harsh consequences of eighteenth-century warfare and tyranny—the gallows at Kennington, the damp cold of cellular confinement, and the psychological decay of men kept in darkness. While modern readers may occasionally find the melodramatic coincidences and villainous monologues typical of Victorian popular fiction, the author grounds his narrative in meticulous research (as evidenced by his detailed historical notes on the Bastille and Prince Charles Edward). It is an entertaining, immersive romantic thriller that leaves behind a vivid impression of the perils of political exile.