Nautical & Maritime Fiction, War & Military Fiction, Occupations - Fiction

Hornblower and the Crisis: Complete & Unabridged

Name: Hornblower and the Crisis: Complete & Unabridged
Author: C.S. Forester
ISBN: 9780754004820

by C.S. Forester

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Synopsis

From AudioFile

[Editor's Note: The following is a combined review with HORNBLOWER IN THE WEST INDIES.]--Chivers Audio has a knack for choosing just the right reader, and Christian Rodska is marvelous as an interpreter of C.S. Forester's famous, self-conscious naval hero of the Napoleonic era, Horatio Hornblower. Rodska offers the accents of England with raspy good humor, rising tension during the action scenes, and thoughtful cadences during times of quiet and rumination. The West Indies title is complete as originally published and consists of several intertwined novellas, while the CRISIS is a last, unfinished novel to which are added a couple of unrelated Hornblower short stories. Nothing goes wrong in this first-class presentation. D.R.W. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Library Journal

When Forester died in 1966, he was working on his 11th Hornblower novel. Published posthumously, this unfinished story begins where Hornblower and the Hotspur ends. It is set on the eve of the Battle of Trafalgar in which the British demolished the combined Spanish and French fleets in 1805. How that decisive battle came about is the subject of Crisis, in which Hornblower accepts a dangerous espionage mission that helps draw the French into battle. Although the manuscript ends before the character actually begins his mission, it provides some fine naval action. This book also contains two previously uncollected storiesAone set in the naval hero's midshipman days, the other in 1848, when Hornblower is admiral of the navy. It's an indispensable part of any Hornblower collection, and most listeners will find Christian Rodska's reading preferable to that of Books on Tape's Gary Martin.AR. Kent Rasmussen, Thousand Oaks, CA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author, C.S. Forester

C. S. Forester

One of the most popular adventure novelists ever, C.S. Forester delighted readers with his Horatio Hornblower series of nautical historical novels, which follow the career of a brave captain in the Napoleonic wars. Forester also created a great love story in The African Queen, the basis for the John Huston film of the same name.

Biography

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.

Author biography courtesy of Time Warner.

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Library Journal

When Forester died in 1966, he was working on his 11th Hornblower novel. Published posthumously, this unfinished story begins where Hornblower and the Hotspur ends. It is set on the eve of the Battle of Trafalgar in which the British demolished the combined Spanish and French fleets in 1805. How that decisive battle came about is the subject of Crisis, in which Hornblower accepts a dangerous espionage mission that helps draw the French into battle. Although the manuscript ends before the character actually begins his mission, it provides some fine naval action. This book also contains two previously uncollected stories--one set in the naval hero's midshipman days, the other in 1848, when Hornblower is admiral of the navy. It's an indispensable part of any Hornblower collection, and most listeners will find Christian Rodska's reading preferable to that of Books on Tape's Gary Martin.--R. Kent Rasmussen, Thousand Oaks, CA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.