In the 1970s I read 2 or 3 books from a series which were old books from my parents.
The main character was a boy (maybe Peter) whose father was part of a resistance movement. The father was captured, tried as a traitor and sent to jail.
The boy (who appeared to have no living mother) was taken to live with a senior person (count perhaps) who was important in the government or people the rebellion was against.
This “count” was seen by the boy as dark and evil and the grand house seemed like a prison to the boy.
The boy although very unhappy eventually made friends with the “count’s” very young daughter, went horse-riding, played etc. But he tried to get messages to the resistance movement and maybe even tried to get away. The “Count” found out, and there was some discussion about holding the father as a “hostage” to the boys good behavior or the boy to the father’s behavior.
The “Count” and the father were both really trying to work towards the same end, but the father was doing it by rebellion, and the “Count” from inside the system.
The boy ends up being treated well by the Count – but I never got to the end of the series (I think I read book 1 and 3 maybe).
I think one of the adult’s names was Sebastian and I got the feeling that it all happened in middle Europe, black forests and castles.
I would love to find out the author and the name of at least one of the books.
Could this be some of the books in Violet Needham’s Ruritanian series, starting with ‘The Black Riders’ (1939)?
Yes it is – wonderful and thank you very much. I thought the word black was in the titles somewhere. And yes far away Moses was there as well. Happy happy happy!
It is the “stormy Petrel” series – from the looks of some of the prices around, it might be worth trying to find the ones you and I read as children – a few thousand dollars for a hardcover black riders.
Could this be some of the books in Violet Needham’s series that began with ‘The Black Riders’ (1939)?
Although hardback early editions can be expensive, the whole series has been reprinted in paperback by Girls Gone By Publishers They are all out of ptint at the publishers noe, but there are still plenty around from second-hand dealers. – (www.ggbp.co.uk/book-titles/dealers).