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C.S. Forester Message Board 1/1/2012
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Forester has written!

Author Forester's Book Reviews

A Ship of the Line
In 1810, during the Napoleonic Wars, after returning home from a successful voyage to the Americas, Captain Hornblower is appointed to command his first ship of the line, HMS Sutherland. He has to work with Admiral Leighton, an inexperienced, over-cautious and incompetent commander who has married the love of Hornblower's life, Lady Barbara Wellesley. They only have half the crew they need, so they have to enlist a large number of fighting men in a hurry...
Flying Colours
Flying Colours is a novel in the Horatio Hornblower series by C. S. Forester, following immediately after A Ship of the Line. Royal Navy Captain Hornblower is a prisoner of war of the Spanish in the Napoleonic Wars (the circumstances of his capture being covered at the end of A Ship of the Line). While being taken to Paris to be tried (and executed) on the trumped up charge of piracy, he, Lieutenant Bush and seaman Brown escape. They find shelter for ...
Hornblower and the Atropos
Hornblower and the Atropos details the adventures of Horatio Hornblower in his first assignment as a post-captain in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. Prior to assuming command of his ship, HMS Atropos, Hornblower is first entrusted with a highly unusual job: organising the funeral of Admiral Horatio Nelson. The barge bearing the coffin springs a leak and nearly sinks in the River Thames, but other than that, the procession proceeds without t...
Hornblower and the Hotspur
Hornblower and the Hotspur is the third novel (in the internal chronology) of C.S. Forester's series about the intrepid Royal Navy officer. During peacetime, in 1803, Hornblower marries Maria, the daughter of his landlady, not because he loves her, but because he feels obliged to. To his great relief, Admiral Cornwallis trusts his sailing skills and judgment, and sends him to sea in command of the sloop Hotspur in anticipation of the resumption of th...

Forester booklist

Hornblower in the West Indies
Hornblower in the West Indies follows Horatio Hornblower in the last active service of his illustrious Royal Navy career. The rear-admiral is made commander-in-chief of the West Indies region. This provides a loose framework for five unrelated adventures. After arriving in the Caribbean, Hornblower learns of a plot to free Napoleon from Elba. With no force available to stop the Imperial Guard from accomplishing their mission, he has no choice but to l...
Lieutenant Hornblower
Lieutenant Hornblower is the second novel (in the internal chronology) in the Hornblower series by C. S. Forester. The newly promoted Hornblower joins HMS Renown as her fifth and most junior lieutenant. It soon becomes apparent that Captain Sawyer is mentally unbalanced, but any attempt to relieve him of command would likely lead to a charge of mutiny. One day, however, he apparently falls down a ladder (there are strong suspicions that he was pushed)...
Lord Hornblower
Lord Hornblower returns to France after the abdication of Napoleon. While there he visits those who sheltered him during the war. Soon Napoleon returns to begin the hundred days campaign and Hornblower and his friends take to the hills to launch a daring guerilla campaign against the forces of the restored Emperor. My favorite in the series....
Payment Deferred
William Marble, a bank clerk living in London just after the end of World War I, is down on his luck and deep in debt. Without warning his nephew, Jim Medland, recently orphaned but having just come into a large inheritance, decides to visit one evening. When he produces his wallet to look for something, William sees that he has a considerable amount of money on him, but Jim does not intend to give or even lend him any. Unable to resist the temptation, a...
The African Queen
Set during WWI, this book's unlikely hero's, a Brave missionary, Rose Sawyer, who is set on revenge and justice, and a timid, alcoholic riverboat engineer, Charlie Allnut set out on the leaky boat named The African Queen. The two meet challenges, adventures, war and love along the way. Lots of humor, and fun. A word of note, The book is more intense, darker, and far less triumphant than the movie of the same name....
The Commodore
In C.S. Forester's novel The Commodore, Horatio Hornblower plays a major role in the later stages of the Napoleonic Wars. In 1812, Hornblower is delighted to finally receive a challenging mission after several months of boredom ashore. He is given the rank of commodore, a ship of the line and various smaller vessels, and the delicate task of trying to bring neutrals Sweden and Russia into the war on Britain's side against Napoleon. On the way to Ru...