Shadow of Doctor Syn is the seventh and last in the series of Doctor Syn novels by Russell Thorndike. This story is set during the events of the French Revolution and part of the action has Syn rescuing people from the Reign of Terror in the style of the Scarlet Pimpernel. The other main plot element is a love story. Syn has fallen in love with young Cicily Cobtree and hopes his actions against Robespierre will earn him a pardon from the King. When Cicily dies, Syn gives up his ideas of pardon and nearly loses his sanity. This sets the stage for the fiendish character he becomes in Doctor Syn: A Tale of the Romney Marsh.
Shadow of Doctor Syn was published in 1944. It follows the events of Amazing Quest of Doctor Syn. Though it is the last book written in the series it acts as a prequel for the first novel.
Famous quotes containing the words shadow of, shadow and/or doctor:
“It was a favor for which to be forever silent to be shown this vision. The earth beneath had become such a flitting thing of lights and shadows as the clouds had been before. It was not merely veiled to me, but it had passed away like the phantom of a shadow, skias onar, and this new platform was gained. As I had climbed above storm and cloud, so by successive days’ journeys I might reach the region of eternal day, beyond the tapering shadow of the earth.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The shadow of a mighty Negro past flits through the tale of Ethiopia the shadowy and of the Egypt the Sphinx. Throughout history, the powers of single blacks flash here and there like falling stars, and die sometimes before the world has rightly gauged their brightness.”
—W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt)
“Every doctor will allow a colleague to decimate a whole countryside sooner than violate the bond of professional etiquet by giving him away.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)