A Modern Legionary

"A Modern Legionary" by John Patrick Le Poer is a story set in the early 1880s about a young Irish boy who yearns for something more than boarding school and his home life, leading him to join the French Foreign Legion to find excitement and a new sense of self. The story follows him as he leaves for Paris with hardly any money, determined to escape his boring life, and after a chance meeting with a soldier, he decides to join the Foreign Legion, despite hearing about the difficulties ahead. Starting in the early chapters, it shows why he enlists, how he interacts with other new soldiers, and what it takes to become a soldier, preparing us for the tests of military training and the struggles to come.