Constructed within the transformations of Maritime culture after World War I, Raddall's early historical novels are more than naive attempts to transcend contemporary activities. In His Majesty's Yankees, a powerful patriarchal master-narrative structures the narrative and fuels the text's conservative vision; in Roger Sudden, the celebration of a conservative system is fused with a modernist anxiety about the failures of conventional signifying practices and the instability of traditional social values. Both historical romances illustrate the ideological shifts of their day.
