Written one hundred years ago, Men of Iron is clearly a "boy's novel," conceived as such and pointedly addressing this audience. Few women appear in the novel, except for Myles's mother, who weeps at his departure for Devlen Castle, and the Ladies Anne and Alice, who spend their lives sequestered in the Earl of Mackworth's private quarters, hungering for tales of bold adventure told them by Myles when he steals into their privy garden. Men of Iron is hardly an exemplar of gender-balancing in audience appeal or in narrative concerns, but readers must remember that the book depicts a time when views regarding the position and occupation of women were narrow indeed.

The violence in the novel is another issue of potential concern. Myles's conflict with Walter Blunt is no boyish skirmish: Blunt attempts to kill Myles with a wooden clog, a dagger, stones, and a...