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.
When our hero Flashman accepts an invitation from his old enemy, Tom
Brown of Rugby, to join in a friendly cricket match, he does not suspect
that he is letting himself in for the most desperate game of his
scandalous career.
What follows is a deadly struggle that sees him scampering from the
hallowed wicket of Lord's to the jungle lairs of Borneo pirates; from a
Newgate hanging to the torture pits of Madagascar, and from Chinatown's
vice dens to slavery in the palace of 'the female Caligula' herself,
Queen Ranavalona of Madagascar.
Had he known what lay ahead, Flashman would never have taken up cricket
seriously. '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
'Not so much a march as a full-blooded charge, fortified by the usual
lashings of salty sex, meticulously choreographed battle scenes and
hilariously spineless acts of self preservation by Flashman.' Sunday Times
'Not only are the Flashman books extremely funny, but they give
meticulous care to authenticity. You can, between the guffaws, learn
from them.' Washington Post
'A first-rate historical novelist' Kingsley Amis 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.
