Ballantyne Chronicles

by Alex Rutherford 2 books in this series

The Ballantyne Chronicles follow Nicholas Ballantyne from a threatened youth in 1744 Scotland into the expanding world of the British East India Company. Sent to India for his safety, he forms a decisive friendship with Robert Clive and becomes involved in the contest between British and French interests that culminates at the Battle of Plassey.

Fortune’s Heir resumes Nicholas’s story in the 1770s, when retirement in the Himalayas cannot protect his family from the Company’s politics or India’s widening wars. Through Nicholas’s changing loyalties, the series examines military ambition, private fortune and the human consequences of a trading corporation becoming a territorial power.

Reading order

Books in this series (2 books)

#1 – Fortune’s Soldier

Alex Rutherford

Scotland, 1744. When danger surrounding his family makes remaining at home impossible, young Nicholas Ballantyne is sent to India to enter the service of the British East India Company. In a world of commercial rivalry and fragile alliances, he befriends the ambitious Robert Clive and learns…

Amazon World of Books

#2 – Fortune’s Heir

Alex Rutherford

In the 1770s, Nicholas Ballantyne has withdrawn to the Himalayan estate of Glenmire, hoping to leave behind the violence and intrigue that accompanied the East India Company’s rise. The peace secured after Plassey has proved temporary, and Warren Hastings asks Nicholas to return as conflict spreads…

Amazon World of Books