The Unfortunate Son by Constance Leeds is a charming novel that historical fiction fans will find quite satisfying.  This book has boy and girl appeal because of its characters, Beatrice and Luc.  In fact, all of the characters are quite pleasant and likeable; the book has a redemptive and positive tone in spite of the hardships the characters encounter.  Moderately paced, the location has a touch of the exotic by taking the reader to Africa.  The conclusion of the book resolves the major conflict, but the secondary question of the status of some of the characters’ future relationships is not addressed.  This may have been intentional on the the author’s part to leave open possibilities for future books. 

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  1 religious exclamation; 4 mild obscenities.

Violence/Gore: Characters scuffle; a kidnapping; a father hits a child; a character is punched; a description of the process of slaughtering a pig for food with mention of blood; a character bites the head of a snake off; there is a second hand report of a character being hit, a husband killing a wife, and cutting an appendage from a child, resulting in his death; half-joking report/story of a cannibal eating a slave girl; a character threatens, hits, kicks, pinches another character on multiple occasions; a bird bites a character; a character falls with a resulting head injury, mention of blood; report of an animal being killed; a brief scene in which a young child witnesses the execution of her father by beheading.

Sex/Nudity:  It is speculated whether a character is an illegitimate child of another character; there is a reference to harems and eunuchs.

Mature Subject Matter:

Physical deformaties, Slavery

Alcohol / Drug Use:

A character is often drunk.