Lord Hornblower (Hornblower Saga) [Hardcover]

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Amereon Limited
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0848813243
• ISBN-13: 978-0848813246
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,020,468 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

C. S. Forester (1899-1966) wrote several novels with military and naval themes, including The African Queen, The Barbary Pirates, The General, The Good Shepherd, The Gun, The Last Nine Days of the "Bismarck," and Rifleman Dodd. But Forester is best known as the creator of Horatio Hornblower, a British naval genius of the Napoleonic era, whose exploits and adventures on the high seas Forester chronicled in a series of eleven acclaimed historical novels. Over the years Hornblower has proved to be one of the most beloved and enduring fictional heroes in English literature, his popularity rivaled only by Sherlock Holmes.

Born Cecil Louis Troughton Smith in Cairo, Egypt, Forester grew up in London. At the start of World War II he traveled on behalf of the British government to America, where he produced propaganda encouraging the United States to remain on Britain's side. After the War, Forester remained in America and made Berkeley, California, his home.

The character of Horatio Hornblower was born after Forester was called to Hollywood to write a pirate film. While the script was being drafted, another studio released Captain Blood, starring Errol Flynn, based on the same historical incidents about which Forester was writing. Rather than seek another movie project, and to avoid an impending paternity suit, Forester jumped aboard a freighter bound for England. By the end of the voyage he had outlined Beat to the Quarters, which introduced the now legendary character Hornblower, Bush, and Lady Barbara.

Forester died in 1966 while working on Hornblower During the Crisis.

Back Bay's editions of the Hornblower novels are numbered according to the chronology of Hornblower's life and career, not according to the sequence in which they were written. The series is comprised of the following titles:


Mr. Midshipman Hornblower
Lieutenant Hornblower
Hornblower and the Hotspur
Hornblower During the Crisis
Hornblower and the Atropos
Beat to Quarters
Ship of the Line
Flying Colours
Commodore Hornblower
Lord Hornblower
Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good for half of it, July 25, 2003

By 

Michael H. Siegel (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lord Hornblower (Hornblower Saga) (Paperback)

This book started out so well. After Horatio Hornblower's triumph in the Baltic, he is assigned an incredibly difficult duty. He is to take back a ship that has mutinied against one of the most brutal captains in the Royal Navy. The ship is only a few miles from escaping to France and recapturing it is going to take all of Hornblower's ingenuity.

When Lord Hornblower was dealing with this subject, I found it thrilling and captivating. But halfway through, it changes to Hornblower entering France and taking part in the rebellion against the tottering Napoleon. It was then that the novel ground to a screeching halt. Hornblower's attempts to deal with the crown prince of France are amazingly dull and his later guerilla campaign was unbelievable. Perhaps I was turned off by a developement with Bush halfway through that was abrupt and cold. But for some reason, the last half of his book dragged for me -- a situation I'd never experienced before in a Hornblower book.

I would probably still recommend purchasing this book if you've come this far. But don't get your hopes up. This is a low point in the series.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing saga of a British naval officer's career., May 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Lord Hornblower (Hornblower Saga) (Paperback)

I'd like to answer the British Columbia readers question. There are 11 novels in C.S. Forrester's Hornblower saga. Additionally, at least one publisher has books that contain up to three of the novels in one volume. Interestingly, Forester didn't write the 11 books in chronological order. Consequently, some publishers elect to place numbers on the spine of each book to indicate where a particular title falls in the chronology. The current US printing (1999), by Back Bay Books, a division of Little Brown and Co., is not complete. At least the last three chronological titles (Commodore Hornblower, Lord Hornblower and Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies) will hit the shelves later in 1999. I can't wait. Each book stands on its own and every one is addictive.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A High Point In The Series, January 9, 2000

By 

Cody Carlson (Salt Lake City, UT United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lord Hornblower (Hornblower Saga) (Paperback)

C.S. Forester never fails to tell an exciting tale and 'Lord Hornblower', the 9th novel in the series, is one of the best. Centering on the time around the treaty of Fontainebleau and up through the hundred days and Waterloo, 'Lord Hornblower' has the recently made K.C.B. Hornblower dispactched to deal with a mutinous crew at sea. Eventually, the peace with France allows Hornblower to visit those who sheltered him there during the war. But when Napolean returns to lead France once again, Hornblower finds himself leading a band of partisans against the restored Emperor. This is the last Hornblower novel to take place during the wars and it is a more than fitting end to Hornblower's own battle with Napolean.