Flying Colours

by C. S. Forester

Overview

Hornblower is captured by the French and faces execution in a Paris prison in this "most satisfying" chapter (Times Literary Supplement) in C. S. Forester's beloved naval adventure series.



Forced to surrender his ship, the Sutherland, after a long and bloody battle, Captain Horatio Hornblower now bides his time as a prisoner in a French fortress. Within days he and his first lieutenant, Bush, who was crippled in the last fight, are to be taken to Paris to be tried on trumped-up charges of violating the laws of war, and most probably executed as part of Napoleon's attempt to rally the war-weary empire behind him.


Even if Hornblower escapes this fate and somehow finds his way back to England, he will face court-martial for his surrender of a British ship. As fears for his life and his reputation compete in his mind with worries about his pregnant wife and his possibly widowed lover, the indomitable captain impatiently awaits the chance to make his next move.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316289399
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	04/05/1989
Series:	Horatio Hornblower Series , #8
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	138,539
Product dimensions:	8.06(w) x 5.48(h) x 0.73(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

C. S. Forester (1899-1966) wrote many highly acclaimed novels, including the eleven-volume Hornblower saga and The African Queen.

Date of Birth:

August 27, 1899

Date of Death:

April 2, 1966

Place of Birth:

Cairo, Egypt

Place of Death:

Berkeley, California

Education:

AlleynGuy's Medical School of the University of London

Editorial Reviews

"Stacks up with the most exciting and best written adventure stories in the language."—Time

From the Publisher

Forester's saga about the fictional British naval hero of the Napoleonic Wars, Horatio Hornblower, has long been popular and is likely soon to become even more so--thanks to a lavish British miniseries headed to the United States. With intelligent, carefully crafted plots and riveting action, all 11 Hornblower novels make ideal audiobooks, and Flying Colours (1938) is no exception--especially with Christian Rodska's able reading. Its story immediately follows Ship of the Line, which ends with Hornblower disabling four enemy ships and surrendering his own wrecked ship to the French in a Spanish port. While Hornblower and his crippled first lieutenant are taken overland to Paris for trial and almost certain execution, they stage a daring escape. However, Hornblower is torn by the knowledge that even if he returns to England, he faces court-martial and may be executed anyway for surrendering his ship. Though set mostly on land, this novel never lacks for excitement, and its conclusion may be the most gratifying of any in the Hornblower series.-Kent Rasmussen, Thousand Oaks, CA

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