Book description
Harry Flashman: the unrepentant bully of Tom Brown's schooldays, now
with a Victoria Cross, has three main talents - horsemanship, facility
with foreign languages and fornication. A reluctant military hero,
Flashman plays a key part in most of the defining military campaigns of
the 19th century, despite trying his utmost to escape them all.
If only Flashman had got on with his dinner and ignored the
handkerchief dropped by a flirtatious hussy in a Calcutta hotel … Well,
American history would have been different, a disastrous civil war might
have been avoided, and Flashman himself would have been spared one of
the most hair-raising adventures of his misspent life.
If only … But, alas, the arch-rotter of the Victorian age could never
resist the lure of a pretty foot. This latest extract of the Flashman
Papers soon finds Flashman careering towards the little Virginian town
of Harper's Ferry, where John Brown and his gang of rugged fanatics were
to fire the first shot in the great war against slavery. 'If ever
there was a time when I felt that watcher-of-the-skies-when-a-new-planet
stuff, it was when I read the first Flashman'
P. G. Wodehouse
'There is a little of Flashman in all of us - but not enough.'
Evening Standard
'The Flashman Papers do what all great sagas do - winning new admirers
along the way but never, ever betraying old ones. It is an immense achievement.'
Sunday Telegraph
'In our crass, humourless, anaemic, politically correct age, there
could be no better tonic or treat than the outrageous Flashy's bold
descriptions of action in battle or bedroom. To relish George MacDonald
Fraser is to rediscover the joy of reading.'
Daily Telegraph
'Everything we expect from a Flashman adventure is here: lechery,
double-crossing, real people, the epic poltroonery from which Flashman
emerges as saviour of the hour…my one complaint about the series -
surely the great mock-historical romp of the past half-century - is that
MacDonald Fraser does not add to it often enough.'
Mail on Sunday
'Thanks to Fraser's passion for history, his rare gift for rattling
narrative and his infectious delight in robust, rollicking language, we
can rejoice in a work of genius worthy of being ranked with - there can
be no higher accolade - P. G. Wodehouse'
Daily Telegraph The author of the famous Flashman Papers and the
Private McAuslan stories, George MacDonald Fraser worked on newspapers
in Britain and Canada. In addition to his novels he also wrote numerous
screenplays, most notably The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers, and
the James Bond film, Octopussy.
