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Milligan and the Samurai Rebels

Milligan and the Samurai Rebels
By Simon Alexander Collier
Amazon, 2012, 339 pages, ISBN: 1477544593
Review by Sir Graham Fry

What would have happened if in 1862 the serious British diplomat, Ernest Satow, had gone to Japan with a rather less studious colleague called Milligan, whose main interests were  women and wine but whose escapades have mysteriously vanished from the history books? The answer is in this book by Simon Alexander Collier, himself a former British diplomat, and it provides a thoroughly entertaining story. Milligan lands himself in one scrape after another, and the reader is carried along with him at a breathless pace.

Milligan is a likeable Irishman who cannot resist temptation but is blessed  with more than his fair share of good luck and a strong instinct for self-preservation. This is just as well since his encounters with an enraged British naval officer, murderous samurai, a wicked French spy, and a rich assortment of other threatening characters would surely have proved the undoing of a lesser man. Along the way, Milligan is comforted by an equally rich assortment of beautiful women. With their help he manages not only to survive, but to play an important (but unseen) role in the success of British diplomacy, as Japan’s western clans scheme to expel the barbarians and overthrow the Shogun’s government.

The book owes part of its inspiration to the Flashman stories by George MacDonald Fraser. Like them, the historical background has been carefully researched, but the reader needs no prior knowledge of history to enjoy the tale. He or she needs only to keep turning the pages as the plot twists and turns.

Those who wish to study the history of Japan’s opening to the West are well-advised to stick to Satow’s diaries, but for those who want only to cheer themselves up on the long flight to Tokyo, the Milligan version is just the job. This is Collier’s first book, and it is available from Amazon. Let us hope that he finds time soon to write the sequel.