Captain Horatio Hornblower: Beat to Quarters / Ship of the Line / Flying Colours

One of my earliest memories is listening to Machael Redgrave reading performance versions of the hornblower Novels over the radio, in the days before TV. Consequently, i was happy to find these three novels as an omnibus volume in the early sixties. Hornblower was big from the 1930's into the 1950's, and the effect of this mythic Archtype may well have had an effect on the mindset of the WWII Commonwealth Navies. These books, "A Ship of the Line", Flying Colours" and The Happy return" are the core of the saga, and spawned several imitators over the decades. The books were very well researched, by an amateur sailor, and a writer who at one point had produced a factual but popularized series of biographies of major Napoleonic figures, are show more classics of the field.
The reader is introduced to our hero, who rises by merit from obscurity to the rank of admiral is possible to his cleverness, and naval talent, and eventually, an advantageous marriage. If you like books about men who, while placed in fields of action, never stop thinking, Hornblower is your man. Patrick Stewart is on record saying that his portrayal of Jean-Luc Picard on "Star Trek" would have been impossible without his exposure to the Hornblower novels. Read and enjoy! show less

This is the three-book sequence that really made Hornblower. I commented elsewere on my love for the lat part, Flying Colours. The other parts are good though more painful for Hornblower, especually the end of the second part when his ship is taken and he is captured.

Maybe the first book is the most successful one of Hornblower’ series there are any love in it. This is sufficiently rare. (I'm so sorry, that from Lady Barbara a child was not born to him according to Parkinson)

Romanzo d'avventure per ragazzi ma non solo. Simpatica descrizione dell'epopea napoleonica osservata con occhi inglesi.

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