THE FENCING MASTER. Translated by Margaret Jull Costa

Blurb

The Fencing Master is a historical novel by Arturo Pérez-Reverte set in Spain at the middle of the 19th century. Amid the political turmoil of the Glorious Revolution where conspiracy and intrigue are commonplace, fencing master Don Jaime Astarloa tries to live as he always has. Subsisting on meagre funds gained through teaching fencing to the sons of the nobility, the anachronistic Don Jaime lives by one universal code: "to be honest, or at least honorable--anything, indeed, that has its roots in the word honor."
The Fencing Master is presented in the third person with the focus on the protagonist.