Poor Man at the Gate Books In Order

Publication Order of A Poor Man at the Gates Books

Poor Man at the Gate

Poor Man at the Gate is a series of science fiction books by Andrew Wareham. The highly acclaimed series follows the adventures of an Englishman Tom Andrews, a petty thief turned a pirate and his good friend Joseph Star, a freed slave. After making a small illegally acquired fortune aboard a ship in the Caribbean and in New York during the revolutionary war, the two are betrayed and forced to seek refuge in England.

They establish their settlement in the Industrious Lancashire at the start of the initial great industrial boom as unethical businessmen and become rich quickly. Their acquired wealth allows Tom to purchase an estate with the hopes of being accepted by the noble families. This wide and detailed researched historical series tells of Thomas and Joseph’s story of success and struggle as they fight to establish powerful dynasties to outcompete any in England.

The Privateersman

The Privateersman is the first book in the Poor Man at the Gate series. It’s a fascinating and uniquely written tale with a distinct perspective on a period well covered in other books relating with the navy. Very little has been written from different point of views entrepreneurs, businesspeople, or new money.
The main character a Dorset man escaping a run in with the dragoons and the Excise is crimped and soon finds himself on a down-at-heel privateer. Because he is intelligent, strong, and bright, he performs pretty well among the crew. Additionally, since he’s not bothered with morality, together with his friend, they manage to the owners share after the captain’s death. Armed with the shares, he discovers that New York businessmen practice a different type of privateering at which he becomes proficient.

Leaving New York for England, Dorset establishes himself as an iron-founder, a mill-owner, and a coal miner through which he is able to acquire new opportunities in new machines and inventions which other people are not swift to adopt.

The Privateersman is set in the last decade of the eighteenth century during the revolutionazation of the cotton trade when mills replaced cottage weavers and spinners, iron foundries built and coal mining is shifting from family drift mines to shafts. A well-financed privateer not bound by the social status or his past ways of doing things discovered that through hard work and fair dealings he could take prizes and make good profits.

Andrew Wareham provides the readers with good writing and vivid depiction of the Dorset countryside so vividly that every reader is able to reflect every detail in the story with their own life stories. He studied and has lectured economic history, a proof that he is well versed with the major economic changes of the 18th century. His explanation of the crash and bank run method is beautifully depicted and should be read widely by both City traders and economists.
This debut novel isn’t your typical nautical themed novel. There are some nice fast paced naval actions in the first few pages, a clear indication that the author did extensive work in researching every bit of the novel.

Nouveau Riche

Nouveau Riche continues Thomas Andrews’s saga as he rose from being an outlaw on the run to a prominent industrialist in the first book in the series, The Privateersman. Now in the second book in the series, we see Thomas take a poverty-stricken and pedigreed wife and change status from a mister to Sir Thomas and the two settle in the country life and soon have a son.

Life is so good for Tom, and his respectability is ever on his mind, and he would do whatever it takes to ensure that he preserves it. Is this a somehow a paradox? It is because that what Tom is and that’s why readers love his character and applaud the author for having crafted this type of character. Thomas loves, and he is very gentle with his wife, he is also kind and respects his employees and tenants as well. He is also an active community member, a good neighbor. Besides all these, Tom is also watchful, and he will take any swift action to deal with all potential threats to his status, wealth and respectability. He can kill if he has to in order to protect his respectable name, reputations and the future of his son.

The second novel in the series has a good sense of humor, and much of it coming from the main character Thomas. As he begins to become one of the elites, he views their disregard for their human life, and their methods may be different. His character in most occasions steps out of this milieu and provide satire, and reflections on who they truly are and who he is as well. While musings don’t last long, however for Thomas, he loves his new life and works tirelessly to see that it doesn’t ever end.

Born To Privilege

Born To Privilege is the third book in this historical fiction series first published in 2014. The story follows the life of Thomas now a married man with teenage kids, a man with a strong influence in the corridors of power. Both Joseph and Tom’s kids go out into the world as a usual way of their passage into adulthood. However, tragedy befalls the families when two of Joseph’s kids find themselves on the two opposing sides of war at sea. To make it worse, family members are also involved in this unsure adventure in America. Although it a land of opportunity, being an Englishman in the US in the years after 1812 war does not come without risks.

The Pain of Privilege

Thomas and Lady Verity have laid out their plans for the family, and they intend to place the dynasty in a position of social, economic and political leadership in England. Captain Matthew makes his trip to England and takes a love match with their daughter, Charlotte.

With hundreds and thousands of retired military men without jobs, and machine breaking becoming a norm in industrial areas, poaching and rick burning become the order of the day in the countryside. The issue of unemployment in Tom’s estate is addressed by encouraging people to migrate to America.