Hardcover, First Edition. Excellent Condition
Red Stag is Guy de la Valdene’s coming of age novel set against the backdrop of a lush estate in Normandy, France, in the 1960s. It is a novel of desire, of murder, and of chilling revenge. Vincent, a boy who has grown up in the shadow of a Count's estate, has just turned nineteen. As the son of the Countess's maid, his childhood was one of ambiguous privilege. But his father's identity remains a mystery, and the villagers shun and fear him for his questionable heritage. As the novel opens, Vincent has just returned from his last year of boarding school for the summer, when his uncle, the estate's gamekeeper, is brutally murdered. Vincent vows revenge, and along with his best friend sets out to find the murderers. Meanwhile, the village is in a state of agitation, anticipating the opening day of the ritualized stag hunt, with hounds and horses, for the royal red stag. In the midst of it all, Nicole, the count's daughter, returns to the estate from America.
As the search for the murderer's identity intensifies and the stag hunt approaches, Nicole and Vincent find themselves inexorably drawn together.
Atmospheric and exotic, Red Stag is textured by the wildlife and the rivers and woods of Normandy. It is beautifully written, near-cinematic in its clarity, suspenseful, and utterly unforgettable.
Guy de la Valdene’s works include For a Handful of Feathers, Making Game, and On the Water. His work has appeared in Sports Afield, Field & Stream, Gray’s Sporting Journal, among other publications.