The Ballad of Lord Edward and Citizen Small

March 20, 2023
Irish film director Jordan (Night in Tunisia) offers a gripping ballad of 18th-century revolutions on both sides of the Atlantic. At its core is the unlikely friendship between two historical figures: Tony Small, an illiterate man born into slavery in South Carolina, and British soldier Lord Edward FitzGerald. The two meet when Small discovers FitzGerald wounded at Eutaw Springs during the American Revolutionary War. First, Small tries to hand FitzGerald over to the Continentals in Charleston, but the two are intercepted by the British. Lieutenant Lord FitzGerald then becomes Small’s savior, adopting him as his manservant. Small accompanies FitzGerald back across the Atlantic, and in Dublin, FitzGerald plays a leading if ill-fated role within the United Irishmen. FitzGerald is a well-known historical figure, while not much is known about Small; Jordan’s choice to portray the events from Small’s point of view yields intriguing insights on the nuances of friendship and cogent reflections on 18th-century life (“I was learning about the odd contradiction between servant and master,” Small narrates. “How the lines between them can blur into oblivion”). Small also claims the best line of the book: “So revolutions, I supposed, were good for some and not so good for others.” This fast-paced epic will have readers hooked.