Tell us a story
LoveReading is thrilled to announce the launch of The Very Short Story Award 2019! If you think you have a story we'll love, click here to find out more and how to enter:
Find out more
LoveReading is thrilled to announce the launch of The Very Short Story Award 2019! If you think you have a story we'll love, click here to find out more and how to enter:
Find out more
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 numeous films, most notably ‘The Three Musketeers’, ‘The Four Musketeers’, and the James Bond film, ‘Octopussy’. He died in January 2008.
The author admits this book is nonsense, and meant to be. It is also the most enormous fun. Peopled with over-the-top characters, some speaking in almost impossible to read dialects, and all confronted with ridiculous situations in their bid to save/destroy England, it is a real ‘piss-take’ of the bodice ripper-cum-swashbuckling romp. Some of the modern references to Elizabethan attitudes are truly hilarious. Fans of his other ridiculous work, Pyrates, will know what they are in for. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.
Long awaited and well worth the eleven year wait! this book is a treat indeed. Flashman is the bounder and cad from Tom Brown’s School Days and has been getting out of scrapes over eleven books, always the coward and always coming out of tricky and dangerous situations as the hero. They are all beautifully written with a rattling good pace and bags of adventure. This one is set in the Abyssinian War of 1868 - I had forgotten how good Fraser is.Comparison: Boris Akunin, Tom Sharpe, Leslie Thomas.Similar this month: None but try Harry Thompson.
Der vorliegende Roman ist der 11. und letzte, den George MacDonald Fraser geschrieben hat. Beim Erscheinen des Buches, das im Hardcover mehr verkaufte als jeder Flashman-Roman zuvor, war er 80 Jahre alt und bestens in Form. Zuvor hatten einige Kritiker behauptet, Flashy sei in den letzten Bchern weiser und milder geworden. Fraser dazu: Ich glaube, er ist etwas erwachsener geworden. Das hat zweifellos mit meinem eigenen Alterungsprozess zu tun. Aber ich denke nicht, dass er netter geworden ist."e; Und wie stand er zu Flashman? Ich lebe jetzt mit ihm seit fast vierzig Jahren. Ich habe natrlich groe Empfindungen fr ihn, aber ich glaube nicht, dass ich ihn sehr gemocht htte. Aber ich teile seine allgemeinen philosophischen Ansichten. Ich bin eher Zyniker und glaube nicht an das Gute im Menschen."e;Tatschlich neigt Flashy im Sptwerk zu milderen Ansichten. Flashmans Feldzug gehrt zu den interessantesten der Serie und veranlasste den amerikanischen Schriftsteller John Updike zu einer Wrdigung. Fraser war inzwischen eine anerkannte literarische Gre und erfreute sich gerade unter Historikern groe Popularitt. Die thiopien-Expedition, die unter die Little Wars"e; des Empires eingeordnet wird, gehrte zu den obskursten Unternehmungen der Briten. Bei uns ist dieser Feldzug fast unbekannt, was umso mehr verwundert, da unter den Geiseln und Zeugen sowohl Deutsche, sterreicher und Schweizer waren. Es gibt einige Parallelen zur heutigen Kriegsfhrung: Als Geiselbefreiungsaktion gilt er als erste groe humanitre Intervention der Weltgeschichte. Deutlich zeigt sich in ihm die in der zweiten Hlfte des 19.Jahrhunderts beginnende Industrialisierung des Krieges. Durch die Teilnahme zahlreicher Journalisten war der Feldzug auch ein frhes Beispiel des embedded journalism"e;. Wissenschaftler unterschiedlicher Disziplinen begleiteten die Armee, um Kulturgter zu rauben und Erkenntnisse ber ein unbekanntes Land zu gewinnen.
The first unpublished novel from the historical fiction legend, George Macdonald Fraser, featuring the unscrupulous and brilliantly entertaining pirate, Calico Jack Rackham. New Providence, 1720s. When infamous pirate Captain `Calico' Jack Rackham returns from the high seas to ask Governor Woodes Rogers for a royal pardon, the Governor sees his chance to put his own devious plans into action. Their agreement sets off an adventure of betrayals, counter-betrayals, plots and escapes that see Rackham join forces with the scheming but seductively beautiful pirate, Anne Bonney. Captain in Calico is a wonderfully spirited and entertaining novel, which will delight fans of George MacDonald Fraser. The unscrupulous Captain Rackham is pure pleasure, and shows the author's early penchant - and flair - for writing scoundrels of the highest order.
Hastig den Ruckzug aus dem Boudoir einer Dame anzutreten, wenn man mit einer leichtfertigen jungen Frau in flagranti erwischt wird, ware eine normale Reaktion, aber wenn sich herausstellt, dass der Ehemann ein hoher Richter ist, dann ist es angesagt, Kalkutta schnell zu verlassen. Und so tritt Flashman eine Reise an, auf der er in Sudafrika gekidnappt und nach Amerika verschifft wird. Sein Ziel: eine kleine Stadt in Virginia namens Harper's Ferry, wo John Brown und seine Gruppe von Radikalen planen, den ersten Schuss im Krieg gegen die Sklaverei abzufeuern - mit Harry Flashman in der Rolle des militarischen Beraters. Und wenn John Brown auf Flashman gehort hatte, wurde er immer noch marschieren statt im Grab zu verwesen ('John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave').
This is a beautiful, moving tale from the bestselling author of the "e;Flashman Papers"e;. To the young Lady Margaret Dacre, raised in the rich security of Queen Elizabeth's court, the Scottish border was a land of blood and brutal violence, where raid and murder were commonplace, and her broad inheritance lay at the mercy of the outlaw riders and feuding tribes of England's last frontier. Beyond the law's protection, alone but for her house servants and an elderly priest, she could wait helpless in her lonely manor, or somehow find the means to fight the terror approaching from the northern night!
In the spirit of Flashman and in the inimitable George MacDonald Fraser style comes a rousing story of prize fighting in the 19th century. Reissued in a stunning new package, Black Ajax will attract a new generation of fans. When Captain Buck Flashman sees the black boxer catch a fly in mid-flight he realizes that he is in the presence of speed such as the prize ring has never seen. Tom Molineaux may be crude and untutored, but if 'Mad Buck' knows anything (and like his notorious son, the archcad Harry Flashman, he has an unerring eye for the main chance), this ex-slave from America is a Champion in the making, on whose broad shoulders the ambitious Captain can climb to sporting and social fame. Under his patronage, the 'Black Ajax' is carried on a popular tide of sporting fever to his great dream: to fight the invincible, undefeated Champion of England, the great Tom Cribb. The story of Molineaux and his eventual battles with Cribb is told through a series of superbly original and individual voices - colourful, powerful and funny. Together they create a magnificent picture of Regency England and a portrait of a flawed hero who surmounted the barriers of ignorance, poverty and race hatred to bring the prize ring a lustre it had never known before, and may never again.
The first unpublished novel from the historical fiction legend, George Macdonald Fraser, featuring the unscrupulous and brilliantly entertaining pirate, Calico Jack Rackham. New Providence, 1720s. When infamous pirate Captain 'Calico' Jack Rackham returns from the high seas to ask Governor Woodes Rogers for a royal pardon, the Governor sees his chance to put his own devious plans into action. Their agreement sets off an adventure of betrayals, counter-betrayals, plots and escapes that see Rackham join forces with the scheming but seductively beautiful pirate, Anne Bonney. Captain in Calico is a wonderfully spirited and entertaining novel, which will delight fans of George MacDonald Fraser. The unscrupulous Captain Rackham is pure pleasure, and shows the author's early penchant - and flair - for writing scoundrels of the highest order.
Now available in ebook format, 'The Pyrates' is a swashbuckling romp of a novel. The Pyrates is all the swashbucklers that ever were, rolled into one great Technicoloured pantomime - tall ships and desert islands, impossibly gallant adventurers and glamorous heroines, buried treasure and Black Spots, devilish Dons and ghastly dungeons, plots, duels, escapes, savage rituals, tender romance and steaming passion, all to the accompaniment of ringing steel, thunderous broadsides, sweeping film music, and the sound of cursing extras falling in the water and exchanging period dialogue. Even Hollywood buccaneers were never like this.
Repackaged to tie-in with hardback publication of 'The Reavers' and to appeal to a new generation of George MacDonald Fraser fans, 'Mr American' is a swashbuckling romp of a novel. Mark Franklin came from the American West to Edwardian England with two long-barrelled .44s in his baggage and a fortune in silver in the bank. Where he had got it and what he was looking for no one could guess, although they wondered - at Scotland Yard, in City offices, in the glittering theatreland of the West End, in the highest circles of Society (even King Edward was puzzled) and in the humble pub at Castle Lancing. Tall dark and dangerous, soft spoken and alone, with London at his feet and a dark shadow in his past, he was a mystery to all of them, rustics and royalty, squires and suffragettes, the women who loved him and the men who feared and hated him. He came from a far frontier in another world, yet he was by no means a stranger... even old General Flashman, who knew men and mischief better than most, never guessed the whole truth about "e;Mr American"e;.
The first unpublished novel from the historical fiction legend, George Macdonald Fraser, featuring the unscrupulous and brilliantly entertaining pirate, Calico Jack Rackham. New Providence, 1720s. When infamous pirate Captain `Calico' Jack Rackham returns from the high seas to ask Governor Woodes Rogers for a royal pardon, the Governor sees his chance to put his own devious plans into action. Their agreement sets off an adventure of betrayals, counter-betrayals, plots and escapes that see Rackham join forces with the scheming but seductively beautiful pirate, Anne Bonney. Captain in Calico is a wonderfully spirited and entertaining novel, which will delight fans of George MacDonald Fraser. The unscrupulous Captain Rackham is pure pleasure, and shows the author's early penchant - and flair - for writing scoundrels of the highest order.
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. In addition to the other famous adventures come three episodes in the career of this eminent if disreputable adventurer. Plumbing the depths of dishonour, Flashman's upto his old tricks again. Whether embroiled in aplot to assassinate Emperor Franz-Josef, saving thePrince of Wales from scandal, or being chased by ahorde of Zulus, Harry Flashman never disappoints.
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. Many have marvelled at General Napier's daring 1868 expedition through the treacherous peaks and bottomless chasms of Abyssinia to rescue a small group of British citizens held captive by the mad tyrant Emperor Theodore. But the vital role of Sir Harry Flashman, V.C., in the success of this campaign has hitherto gone unrecorded. Flashman's undeserved reputation for heroism renders him the British Army's candidate of choice when it comes to skulking behind enemy lines in Ali Baba attire. After all, who but the great amorist could contemplate navigating a land populated by hostile tribes and the loveliest (and most savage) women in Africa, from leather-clad nymphs with a penchant for torture to a voluptuous barbarian queen with a reputation for throwing disobliging guests to her pet lions?
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 all other trusts fail, turn to Flashman' Abraham LincolnIn China in 1860, a lot of people mistakenly put their trust in Flashman: the English vicar's daughter with her cargo of opium; Lord Elgin in search of an intelligence chief; the Emperor's ravishing concubine, seeking a champion in her struggles for power; and Szu-Zhan, the female bandit colossus, as practised in the arts of love as in the arts of war. They were not to know that behind his Victoria Cross, Harry Flashman was a base coward and a charlatan. They took him at face value. And he took them, for all he could, while China seethed through the bloodiest civil war in history and the British and French armies hacked their way to the heart of the Forbidden City...
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.
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. What caused the Indian Mutiny? The greased cartridge, religious fanaticism, political blundering, yes - but one hitherto unsuspected factor is now revealed to be the furtive figure who fled across India in 1857 with such frantic haste: Flashman. Plumbing new depths of anxious knavery in his role as secret agent extraordinaire, Flashman saw far more of the Great Mutiny than he wanted. How he survived Thugs and Tsarist agents, Eastern beauties and cabinet ministers and kept his skin intact is a mystery revealed here in this volume of The Flashman Papers.
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.Celebrated Victorian bounder, cad, and lecher, Sir Harry Flashman, V.C., returns to play his (reluctant) part in the charge of the Light Brigade in this of the critically acclaimed Flashman Papers.As the British cavalry prepared to launch themselves against the Russian guns at Balaclava, Harry Flashman was petrified.But the Crimea was only the beginning: beyond lay the snowbound wastes of the great Russian slave empire, torture and death, headlong escapes from relentless enemies, savage tribal hordes to the right of him, passionate females to the left of him...Then, finally, that unknown but desperate war on the roof of the world, when India was the prize, and there was nothing to stop the armed might of Imperial Russia but the wavering sabre and terrified ingenuity of old Flashman himself.
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. What was Harry Flashman doing on the slopes of Little Bighorn, caught between the gallant remnant of Custer's 7th Cavalry and the attack of Sitting Bull's braves? He was trying to get out of the line of fire and escape yet again with his life (if not his honour) intact. Here is the legendary and authentic West of Mangas Colorado's Apaches, of Kit Carson, Custer and Spotted Tail, of Crazy Horse and the Deadwood stage, gunfighters and gamblers, scoundrels and Indian belles, enthusiastic widows and mysterious adventuresses. The West as it really was: terrifying!
Flashman must choose - politcs in London or slave trading in Africa - not that it matters really in this hilarious third installement of the Flashman PapersWhen Flashman was inveigled into a game of pontoon with Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck, he was making an unconscious choice about his own future - would it lie in the House of Commons or the West African slave trade? Was there, for that matter, very much difference?Once again Flashman's charm, cowardice, treachery, lechery and fleetness of foot see the lovable rogue triumph by the skin of his chattering teeth.
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.
Books 4-6 in George MacDonald Fraser's uproarious bestselling Flashman series, now available in one ebook for the first time. FLASHMAN AND THE MOUNTAIN OF LIGHT: 1845-1846 Given the choice between defending Britannia's frontier against the mighty Sikh army and pleasuring a ravishing maharani in the Court of the Punjab, Flashman knew where he'd rather be. Of course, that was before he found out about the torture chambers or the malevolent influence of the Mountain of Light... FLASH FOR FREEDOM!: 1848-1849 Flashman seems destined for the House of Commons, until his political ambitions are scuppered by a crooked game of pontoon with Disraeli (with someone else, doing the cheating for a change!) Forced to flee London, he boards a vessel bound for the United States - via the African slave coast. Before the odyssey ends, Flashy will encounter an assortment of interesting Yanks including a New Orleans madam and a young Mr Lincoln... FLASH AND THE REDSKINS: 1849-50 / 1875-76 With charges of slave-stealing, slave-trading, false pretences and murder hanging over him, Flashman is desperate to leave New Orleans. So desperate that when a besotted brothel keeper invites him to lead a wagon train of whores bound for the California goldfields, he jumps at the chance.
In Volume II of the Flashman Papers, Flashman tangles with femme fatale Lola Montez and the dastardly Otto Von Bismarck in a battle of wits which will decide the destiny of a continent.In this volume of The Flashman Papers, Flashman, the arch-cad and toady, matches his wits, his talents for deceit and malice, and above all his speed in evasion against the most brilliant European statesman and against the most beauiful and unscrupulous adventuress of the era.From London gaming-halls and English hunting-fields to European dungeons and throne-rooms, he is involved in a desperate succession of escapes, disguises, amours and (when he cannot avoid them) hand-to-hand combats.All the while, the destiny of a continent rests on his broad and failing shoulders.
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. Flashman, soldier, duellist, lover, imposter, coward, cad and hero, triumphs in this first instalment of The Flashman Papers. His adventures as the reluctant secret agent in Afghanistan and his entry into the exclusive company of Lord Cardigan's Hussars culminate in his foulest hour - his part in the historic disaster of the Retreat from Kabul. This is the story of a blackguard who enjoyed villainy for its own sake. Shameless, exciting and funny, Flashman's deplorable odyssey is observed with the cynical eye of a scoundrel who was honest only in reporting what he saw. He makes all other black sheep look respectable grey.
Der inzwischen mit dem Viktoriakreuz ausgezeichnete Colonel Harry Flashman taucht in der britischen Kronkolonie Hongkong auf (1860). Was zunachst wie ein kleiner Nebenverdienst"e; vor seiner Heimreise aussieht - eine Schiffsladung Opium in chinesisches Hoheitsgebiet schmuggeln - entwickelt sich unversehens zu einem atemlosen Abenteuer: In China herrscht Burgerkrieg, die Tapings erheben sich gegen die dekadente Herrschaft des Mandschu-Kaisers in Peking. Die Gromachte England und Frankreich versuchen ihre Interessen zu wahren; der ewige Zauderer und Hasenfu aus Passion Flashman naturlich mitten drin. Auch fur diesen Band gilt: Lesen bildet. Vom Opiumschmuggel bis zum Niederbrennen des Sommer-Palastes in Peking ist Flashman der Zeuge der historischen Ereignisse.
George MacDonald Fraser's uproarious bestselling Flashman series, now available in one complete ebook for the first time.THE COMPLETE FLASHMAN PAPERS is the entire collection of Flashman's perilous missions across the world. Spanning from 1839 right through to 1894 the incorrigible Flashman fears all evil and when it comes to voluptuous queens and princesses he has be known to waver from his mission. Filled to the gunnels with escapades of unwavering excitement THE COMPLETE FLASHMAN PAPERS will quench even the most ravenous appetite for Flashman.
The last three books in George MacDonald Fraser's uproarious bestselling Flashman series, now available in one ebook for the first time.FLASHMAN AND THE DRAGON: 1860As China seethes through the bloodiest civil war in history, and the British and French armies hack their way to the heart of the Forbidden City, Flashman finds his services much in demand. There's the vicar's wife, desperate to sell her cargo of opium; the Amazonian bandit queen who, having mislaid five husbands, is casting about for a sixth; Lord Elgin in need of an intelligence chief for a perilous mission to Peking; and the Emperor's ravishing concubine who would have the hairy barbarian shaved and perfumes and delivered to her pavilion...FLASHMAN ON THE MARCH: 1867-8Who better to undertake a perilous mission into deepest Abyssinia to rescue Britons held hostage by a mad emperor that the ever reluctant Sir Harry Flashman, V.C.? In a land populated by warriors, leather-clad nymphs with a penchant for torture, de-ballocking Amazons, and a voluptuous queen who feeds disobliging guest to her pet lions,Flash Harry's mastery of lechery and poltrooney will be put to the ultimate test.FLASHMAN AND THE TIGER: 1878-1894Whether embroiled in a plot to assassinate Emperor Franz-Josef, saving the Prince of Wales from scandal, or galloping hell-for-leather with a horde of angry Zulus in hot pursuit, Flashman never disappoints.
Books 7-9 in George MacDonald Fraser's uproarious bestselling Flashman series, now available in one ebook for the first time.FLASHMAN AT THE CHARGE: 1854-1855As the Light Brigade prepare to charge the Russian guns at Balaclava, Flashman assumes his characteristic battle position: sabre rattling, teeth chattering, bowels rumbling in terror. His flight from the dangers of Crimes will take him across the great Russian empire to Central Asia, where savage tribal hordes form a last line of resistance under the leadership of the Silk One, a lusty little baggage with one thing on her mind...FLASHMAN IN THE GREAT GAME: 1856-1858Flashman finds himself plumbing new depths of anxious knavery in his role as a secret agent extraordinaire. Cowering and sidestepping his way around Thug assassins, tsarist agents and rampaging hordes of Sepoy mutineers, Flashman somehow manages to keep his skin intact. until he meets his match in the voluptuous Princess Lakshmiba...FLASHMAN AND THE ANGEL OF THE LORD: 1858-1859Beating a hasty retreat from the boudoir would normally suffice when caught in flagrante with a wanton young wife, but when the husband turns out to be a high court judge, a change of continents is called for. And so Flashman embarks upon a voyage that will see him shanghaied and shipped off to America. His destination: the little Virginian town of Harper's Ferry, where John Brown and his gang of fanatics plan to fire the first shot in the war against slavery - with Flashy as military adviser.
Books 4-6 in George MacDonald Fraser's uproarious bestselling Flashman series, now available in one ebook for the first time.FLASHMAN AND THE MOUNTAIN OF LIGHT: 1845-1846Given the choice between defending Britannia's frontier against the mighty Sikh army and pleasuring a ravishing maharani in the Court of the Punjab, Flashman knew where he'd rather be. Of course, that was before he found out about the torture chambers or the malevolent influence of the Mountain of Light...FLASH FOR FREEDOM!: 1848-1849Flashman seems destined for the House of Commons, until his political ambitions are scuppered by a crooked game of pontoon with Disraeli (with someone else, doing the cheating for a change!) Forced to flee London, he boards a vessel bound for the United States - via the African slave coast. Before the odyssey ends, Flashy will encounter an assortment of interesting Yanks including a New Orleans madam and a young Mr Lincoln...FLASH AND THE REDSKINS: 1849-50 / 1875-76With charges of slave-stealing, slave-trading, false pretences and murder hanging over him, Flashman is desperate to leave New Orleans. So desperate that when a besotted brothel keeper invites him to lead a wagon train of whores bound for the California goldfields, he jumps at the chance.
The first three books in George MacDonald Fraser's uproarious bestselling Flashman series, now available in one ebook for the first time.FLASHMAN: 1839-42.Soldier, duellist, lover, imposter, coward, cad and hero, Harry Flashman triumphs in this first instalment of The Flashman Papers. His adventures as the reluctant secret agent in Afghanistan and his entry into the exclusive company of Lord Cardigan's Hussars culminate in his foulest hour - his part in the historic disaster of the Retreat from Kabul.ROYAL FLASH: 1842-43.Flashman matches his wits, his talents for deceit and malice, and above all his speed in evasion against the most brilliant European statesman and against the most beautiful and unscrupulous adventuress of the era.From London gaming-halls and English hunting-fields to European dungeons and throne-rooms, he is involved in a desperate succession of escapes, disguises, amours and (when he cannot avoid them) hand-to-hand combats.FLASHMAN'S LADY: 1842-45.When Flashman accepts an invitation from his old enemy, Tom Brown of Rugby, to join a friendly cricket match, he doesn't realise he is letting himself in for the most desperate game of his scandalous career - a deadly struggle that would see him scampering from the hallowed wicket of Lords' to the jungle lairs of Borneo pirates, from a Newgate hanging to the torture pits of Madagascar, from Chinatown dens to slavery in the palace of a mad black queen.
Harry Flashman in Nordamerika, wo er mit einem Planwagenzug - der ein Bordell auf Radern ist - nach Westen zieht. Wild Bill Hickok, der Apachen-Hauptling Geronimo, Kit Carson und Crazy Horse werden zu seinen guten Bekannten und mit General Custer reitet er in Richtung Little Bighorn. Es gibt ein Wiedersehen mit Susie, der Bordellmutter aus New Orleans und ihren Schutzlingen. Dramatisch und voller Spannung - und mit einer realistischen Darstellung der Handlungsweise der Indianer.
The story of what happened to Flashman, the caddish bully of Tom Brown's Schooldays, after he was expelled in drunken disgrace from Rugby school in the late 1830s.
It is 1860, and while China seethes through the bloodiest civil war in history and the British and French armies hack their way to the heart of the Forbidden City, Flash Harry hoodwinks them all.
The fourth volume of memoirs in which Harry Flashman confronts destiny with Lord Cardigan and the Light Brigade.
A game of cards leads Flashman from the jungle death-house of Dahomey to the slave state of Mississippi as he dabbles in the slave trade in Volume III of the Flashman Papers. When Flashman was inveigled into a game of pontoon with Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck, he was making an unconscious choice about his own future - would it lie in the House of Commons or the West African slave trade? Was there, for that matter, very much difference? Once again Flashman's charm, cowardice, treachery, lechery and fleetness of foot see the lovable rogue triumph by the skin of his chattering teeth.
In this volume of The Flashman Papers, Flashman, the arch-cad and toady, matches his wits, his talents for deceit and malice, and above all his speed in evasion against the most brilliant European statesman and against the most beauiful and unscrupulous adventuress of the era. From London gaming-halls and English hunting-fields to European dungeons and throne-rooms, he is involved in a desperate succession of escapes, disguises, amours and (when he cannot avoid them) hand-to-hand combats. All the while, the destiny of a continent rests on his broad and failing shoulders.
The seventh volume of the Flashman Papers records the arch-cad's adventures in America during Gold Rush of 1849 and the Battle of Bighorn in 1876, and his acquaintance with famous Indian chiefs, American soldiers, frontiersmen and statesmen.
In Volume II of the Flashman Papers, Flashman tangles with femme fatale Lola Montez and the dastardly Otto Von Bismarck in a battle of wits which will decide the destiny of a continent.In this volume of The Flashman Papers, Flashman, the arch-cad and toady, matches his wits, his talents for deceit and malice, and above all his speed in evasion against the most brilliant European statesman and against the most beauiful and unscrupulous adventuress of the era.From London gaming-halls and English hunting-fields to European dungeons and throne-rooms, he is involved in a desperate succession of escapes, disguises, amours and (when he cannot avoid them) hand-to-hand combats.All the while, the destiny of a continent rests on his broad and failing shoulders.
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 all other trusts fail, turn to Flashman' Abraham LincolnIn China in 1860, a lot of people mistakenly put their trust in Flashman: the English vicar's daughter with her cargo of opium; Lord Elgin in search of an intelligence chief; the Emperor's ravishing concubine, seeking a champion in her struggles for power; and Szu-Zhan, the female bandit colossus, as practised in the arts of love as in the arts of war. They were not to know that behind his Victoria Cross, Harry Flashman was a base coward and a charlatan. They took him at face value. And he took them, for all he could, while China seethed through the bloodiest civil war in history and the British and French armies hacked their way to the heart of the Forbidden City...
A game of cards leads Flashman from the jungle death-house of Dahomey to the slave state of Mississippi as he dabbles in the slave trade in Volume III of the Flashman Papers.When Flashman was inveigled into a game of pontoon with Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck, he was making an unconscious choice about his own future - would it lie in the House of Commons or the West African slave trade? Was there, for that matter, very much difference?Once again Flashman's charm, cowardice, treachery, lechery and fleetness of foot see the lovable rogue triumph by the skin of his chattering teeth.
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. Expelled from Rugby for drunkenness, and none too welcome at home after seducing his father's mistress, the young Flashman embarks on a military career with Lord Cardigan's Hussars. En route to Afghanistan, our hero hones his skills as a soldier, duellist, imposter, coward and amorist (mastering all 97 ways of Hindu love-making during a brief sojourn in Calcutta), before being pressed into reluctant service as a secret agent. His Afghan adventures culminate in a starring role in that great historic disaster, the Retreat from Kabul.
Ware Lola Montez nicht gewesen, hatte Harry Flashman Bismarck nicht kennengelernt - und Schleswig-Holstein ware heute eine danische Provinz. Aussicht auf Profit und Abenteuerlust locken ihn aus Londoner Spielsalen nach Deutschland. Eine dramatische Folge von Fluchtversuchen, Verkleidungen und Amouren treiben ihn durch Deutschland, wo er schlielich in die Wirren der 48er Revolution in Munchen gerat. Flashman beweist hier von neuem seinen uberlegenen Umgang mit Staatsmannern vom Kaliber Bismarcks, mit Kurtisanen, Duellanten, Kammerzofen und Damen der Gesellschaft.
Flashmans Traum von einem Sitz im Parlament wird durch einen Skandal gestort, der ihn zwingt, ins Ausland zu gehen. Sein Schwiegervater hilft - doch er schickt ihn auf ein Sklavenschiff. Im morderischen Dschungel Dohomeys wird eine Ladung Sklaven ubernommen und nach Amerika gebracht. Dort wird das Sklavenschiff aufgebracht und Flashman rettet sich mit Hilfe einer falschen Identitat. In Amerika, wo er auf Abraham Lincoln trifft, gerat er zwischen alle Fronten, wird selbst zum Sklaven, zum Sklavenaufseher, zum Sklavenbefreier - kurz zu einem Helden der Freiheit. Ein abwechslungs- und temporeicher, spannender und mit viel Humor gewurzter historischer Roman.
Der Roman beginnt scheinbar harmlos mit einem Cricket-Spiel, aber dann muss Harry Flashman nach Singapur und - auf der Suche nach seiner entfuhrten Gemahlin Elspeth, die ihren Entfuhrer gar nicht so ubel findet - nach Borneo und Afrika. Im fremdenfeindlichen Madagaskar lernt Harry die gefahrliche Konigin Ranavalona I. und ihre Eigenarten beim Herrschen und im Bett kennen. Wahrend des anglo-franzosischen Angriffes auf Fort Tamatave versucht er, mit Elspeth von der Insel zu fliehen.
Die Anzeichen verdichten sich, doch niemand rechnet wirklich damit: Der Groe Indische Aufstand, der auch Sepoy-Krieg genannt wird, bricht 1857 aus. Harry Flashman ist politischer Agent, eine Rolle, die ihm eigentlich gut gefallt, da sie ungefahrlich erscheint und man keine Ergebnisse vorweisen muss. Aber wie ublich hat er sich verrechnet und er gerat in die Brennpunkte des Aufstandes. Er lernt die wunderschone Rani Lakschmibai kennen und lieben, er ist beim Massaker von Kanpur dabei und trifft seinen Freund Ilderim, den Paschtunen. Spannend, abwechslungsreich und voller historischer Details, politisch gewohnt unkorrekt und mit viel Humor.
The first in George MacDonald Fraser's uproarious Flashman series and the classic they pay homage to available together for the first time in ebook format.Uproarious, nefarious and sociable at the same time, Tom Brown is at once the typical boy of his generation and the perennial hero. Tom Brown's School Days charts our protagonist's time at Rugby, taking his troubled adolescence when he is savagely bullied by the brutal Flashman, to his departure - with the world at his feet.In Flashman, meanwhile, George MacDonald Fraser's inspired spin-off from Hughes' classic, we see Brown's tormentor from an entirely different perspective. Expelled from Rugby for drunkenness, and none too welcome at home after seducing his father's mistress, the young Flashman embarks on a military career with Lord Cardigan's Hussars.En route to Afghanistan, our hero hones his skills as a soldier, duellist, imposter, coward and amorist (mastering all 97 ways of Hindu love-making during a brief sojourn in Calcutta), before being pressed into reluctant service as a secret agent. His Afghan adventures culminate in a starring role in that great historic disaster, the Retreat from Kabul.
Wann immer die Welt sich ein blutiges Gemetzel leistet, Harry Flashman ist dabei. Diesmal ist es der Krimkrieg und er gerat in die beruhmte Schlacht von Balaklava. Die britische Leichte Kavallerie macht sich fertig zur Attacke auf die russischen Geschutzstellungen und Harry findet keine Moglichkeit, sich zu absentieren. Doch die Krim ist nur der Anfang, dahinter erwartet ihn Russland mit seinen schneebedeckten Weiten, erwarten ihn unbarmherzige Feinde, allerdings auch leidenschaftliche, schone Frauen, und schlielich ist da noch der fast unbekannte Krieg in Zentralasien, in dem Russland versucht, nach Indien vor zu stoen.
Der 17-jahrige Harry Flashman wird in der Zeit des Viktorianischen Empire aus der Rugby School geworfen. Er startet eine erstaunliche Karriere beim Militar, die unverdient steil nach oben geht, denn er wei: Bestimmte menschliche Fehler wie Dummheit, Arroganz und Engstirnigkeit sind militarische Vorzuge. Harry Flashman darf Elspeth, "e;das grote Flittchen, das je eine Matratze abgenutzt hat"e; heiraten (auerdem ist ihr Vater reich), doch wird er zu seinem Entsetzen nach Afghanistan versetzt. Beim Ruckzug der Briten und verbundeten Inder aus Kabul uberleben nur zwei - Harry ist einer davon. Harry macht sich naturlich aus dem Staub und schlagt sich selbst durch. Das endet in hochsten militarischen Auszeichnungen als "e;Held von Dschalalabad"e; und bei den Afghanen wird er als "e;Bloody Lance"e; geachtet (aufgrund eines weiteren Missverstandnisses).
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 might have been different, a disastrous civil war might have been avoided, and Flash Harry 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 and this latest extract from The Flashman Papers soon finds him 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.
For the first time in four years comes a new book in George MacDonald Fraser's long-running series chronicling the adventures of Sir Harry Paget Flashman. Eleventh in the series, Flashman and the Tiger features not one, but three stories of international intrigue that find the fictional Flashman thrown headlong into historical events around the world. This time out Flashman is thwarting an attempted assassination of Austria's Emperor Franz Josef (The Road to Charing Cross); getting to the bottom of the Tranby Croft gaming scandaland the Prince of Wales' involvement in it (The Subtleties of Baccarat); and, in the title story, impacting the Zulu war while hunting down a longtime enemy. At once meticulously faithful to fact and wildly fanciful, Flashman and the Tiger is an educational romp through the annals of history; thirty years after he began the series, Fraser is at the top of his game.From the Trade Paperback edition.
No one knew who Mark Franklin was when he disembarked at Liverpool in 1909 with a copy of Shakespeare's works, an old Mexican charro saddle, and two Remingtons in his battered luggage. He was just another American, tall and softly-spoken. Even General Flashman never guessed the whole truth. ';A self-confident performance by an old hand. Mr. Fraser clearly enjoys being master of such a wide and wild plot, and makes sure to leave room in it for his most famous creation, the eponymous hero of his Flashman adventure series.'The New Yorker ';A splendidly entertaining English novel of the old school.'Time ';Every page is sheer unadulterated pleasure.'The Times (London)
George MacDonald Fraserbeloved for his series of Flashman historical novelsoffers an action-packed memoir of his experiences in Burma during World War II. Fraser was only 19 when he arrived there in the war's final year, and he offers a first-hand glimpse at the camaraderie, danger, and satisfactions of service. A substantial Epilogue, occasioned by the 50th anniversary of VJ-Day in 1995, adds poignancy to a volume that eminent military historian John Keegan described as ';one of the great personal memoirs of the Second World War.'
This ninth volume of The Flashman Papers, faithfully edited and transcribed by Fraser, finds that Sir Harry Flashman is back in India, where his saga began. This time, our hero is sent by Her Majesty's Secret Service to spy on the corrupt court of Lahore, on India's Northwest Frontier. Flashy's most challenging exploit yet is as politically shrewd and thoroughly lewd as ever.
For George MacDonald Fraser the bully Flashman was easily the most interesting character in Tom Brown's Schooldays, and imaginative speculation as to what might have happened to him after his expulsion from Rugby School for drunkenness ended in 12 volumes of memoirs in which Sir Harry Paget Flashman - self-confessed scoundrel, liar, cheat, thief, coward -'and, oh yes, a toady' - romps his way through decades of nineteenth-century history in a swashbuckling and often hilarious series of military and amorous adventures. In Flashman the youthful hero, armed with a commission in the 11th Dragoons, is shipped to India, woos and wins the beautiful Elspeth, and reluctantly takes part in the first Anglo-Afghan War, honing a remarkable talent for self-preservation.Flash for Freedom! finds him crewing on an African slave ship, hiding in a New Orleans whorehouse and fortuitously running into rising young American politician Abraham Lincoln...
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.Many have marvelled at General Napier's daring 1868 expedition through the treacherous peaks and bottomless chasms of Abyssinia to rescue a small group of British citizens held captive by the mad tyrant Emperor Theodore. But the vital role of Sir Harry Flashman, V.C., in the success of this campaign has hitherto gone unrecorded.Flashman's undeserved reputation for heroism renders him the British Army's candidate of choice when it comes to skulking behind enemy lines in Ali Baba attire. After all, who but the great amorist could contemplate navigating a land populated by hostile tribes and the loveliest (and most savage) women in Africa, from leather-clad nymphs with a penchant for torture to a voluptuous barbarian queen with a reputation for throwing disobliging guests to her pet lions?
Elizabethan England, and a dastardly Spanish plot to take over the throne is uncovered. It's up to Agent Archie Noble to save Queen and country in this saucy and swashbuckling romp from the bestselling author of The Flashman Papers and The Pyrates.Spoiled, arrogant, filthy rich, and breathtakingly beautiful, the young Lady Godiva Dacre is exiled from the court of Good Queen Bess (who can't abide red-haired competition) to her lonely estate in distant Cumberland, where she looks forward to bullying the peasantry and getting her own imperious way. Little does she guess that the turbulent Scottish border is the last place for an Elizabethan heiress, beset by ruthless reivers (many of them unshaven), blackmailing ruffians, fiendish Spanish plotters intent on regime change and turning Merrie England into a ghastly European Union province.And no one to rely on but her half-witted blonde school chum, a rugged English superman with a knack for disaster, and a dashing highwayman who looks like Errol Flynn but has a Glasgow accent. To say nothing of warlocks, impersonators, taxi-drivers riding brooms, burlesque artists, the drunkest man in Scotland, and several quite normal characters - oh, yes, gossips, it's all happening in The Reavers, a moral tale obviously conceived in some kind of fit by Flashman author George MacDonald Fraser ... well, he's getting on, and was bound to crack eventually. He admits (nay, insists) that it's a crazy story for readers who love fun for its own sake.
Elizabethan England, and a dastardly Spanish plot to take over the throne is uncovered. It's up to Agent Archie Noble to save Queen and country in this saucy and swashbuckling romp from the bestselling author of The Flashman Papers and The Pyrates.Spoiled, arrogant, filthy rich, and breathtakingly beautiful, the young Lady Godiva Dacre is exiled from the court of Good Queen Bess (who can't abide red-haired competition) to her lonely estate in distant Cumberland, where she looks forward to bullying the peasantry and getting her own imperious way. Little does she guess that the turbulent Scottish border is the last place for an Elizabethan heiress, beset by ruthless reivers (many of them unshaven), blackmailing ruffians, fiendish Spanish plotters intent on regime change and turning Merrie England into a ghastly European Union province.And no one to rely on but her half-witted blonde school chum, a rugged English superman with a knack for disaster, and a dashing highwayman who looks like Errol Flynn but has a Glasgow accent. To say nothing of warlocks, impersonators, taxi-drivers riding brooms, burlesque artists, the drunkest man in Scotland, and several quite normal characters - oh, yes, gossips, it's all happening in The Reavers, a moral tale obviously conceived in some kind of fit by Flashman author George MacDonald Fraser ... well, he's getting on, and was bound to crack eventually. He admits (nay, insists) that it's a crazy story for readers who love fun for its own sake.
Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. Wanted: a double-crossing and philandering Harry Flashman. Desperate to leave New Orleans, Flashy must continue his American adventures out West, bound for the Californian goldfields.
Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. In addition to the other famous adventures come three episodes in the career of this eminent if disreputable adventurer. Plumbing the depths of dishonour, Flashman's up to his old tricks again. Whether embroiled in a plot to assassinate Emperor Franz-Josef, saving the Prince of Wales from scandal, or being chased by a horde of Zulus, Harry Flashman never disappoints.
Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. As the Light Brigade prepare to charge the Russian guns at Balaclava, Flashman assumes his characteristic battle position: sabre rattling, teeth chattering, bowels rumbling in terror and about to bolt.
Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman on his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. A hasty retreat from the boudoir would normally suffice when caught with a wanton young wife. But when her husband turns out to be a high court judge, a change of continents is called for, as Flashman sets off to America again.
Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. In his raunchiest romp yet, Flashman mines new depths of roguish behaviour as a secret agent extraordinaire and is thrust headfirst into the middle of the Indian Mutiny.
Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. An international mission calls for unflinching bravery in the bedroom . . . Caught between an opium-selling vicar's wife, an Amazonian bandit queen looking for her next husband and the Chinese Emperor's ravishing concubine, Harry Flashman is busier than ever.
Long awaited and well worth the eleven year wait! this book is a treat indeed. Flashman is the bounder and cad from Tom Brown’s School Days and has been getting out of scrapes over eleven books, always the coward and always coming out of tricky and dangerous situations as the hero. They are all beautifully written with a rattling good pace and bags of adventure. This one is set in the Abyssinian War of 1868 - I had forgotten how good Fraser is.Comparison: Boris Akunin, Tom Sharpe, Leslie Thomas.Similar this month: None but try Harry Thompson.
From the author of the ever-popular Flashman novels, a collection of film-world reminiscences and trenchant thoughts on Cool Britannia, New Labour and other abominations. In between writing Flashman novels, George MacDonald Fraser spent thirty years as an incurably star struck screenwriter, working with the likes of Steve McQueen, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cubby Broccoli, Burt Lancaster, Federico Fellini and Oliver Reed. Now he shares his recollections of those encounters, providing a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes. Far from starry-eyed where Tony Blair & Co are concerned, he looks back also to the Britain of his youth and castigates those responsible for its decline to a Third World country ... misruled by a typical Third World government, corrupt, incompetent and undemocratic . Controversial, witty and revealing - or curmudgeonly , reactionary , undiluted spleen , according to the critics - The Light's on at Signpost has struck a chord with a great section of the public. Perhaps, as one reader suggests, it should be hidden beneath the floorboards, before the Politically-Correct Thought Police come hammering at the door, demanding to confiscate any copies .
`There is no doubt that [Quartered Safe Out Here] is one of the great personal memoirs of the Second World War' John Keegan Life and death in Nine Section, a small group of hard-bitten and (to modern eyes) possibly eccentric Cumbrian borderers with whom the author, then nineteen, served in the last great land campaign of World War II, when the 17th Black Cat Division captured a vital strongpoint deep in Japanese territory, held it against counter-attack and spearheaded the final assault in which the Japanese armies were, to quote General Slim, torn apart .
George MacDonald Fraser's hilarious stories of the most disastrous soldier in the British Army - collected together for the first time in one volume. Private McAuslan, J., the Dirtiest Soldier in the Word (alias the Tartan Caliban, or the Highland Division's answer to the Pekin Man) first demonstrated his unfitness for service in The General Danced at Dawn. He continued his disorderly advance, losing, soiling or destroying his equipment, through the pages of McAuslan in the Rough. The final volume, The Sheikh and the Dustbin, pursues the career of the great incompetent as he shambles across North African and Scotland, swinging his right arm in time with his right leg and tripping over his untied laces. His admirers know him as court-martial defendant, ghost-catcher, star-crossed lover and golf caddie extraordinary. Whether map-reading his erratic way through the Sahara by night or confronting Arab rioters, McAuslan's talent for catastrophe is guaranteed. Now, for the first time, the inimitable McAuslan stories are collected together in one glorious volume.
Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. The British Empire needs a man to satisfy insatiable lust and indulge in ungentlemanly acts - fortunately it has Harry Flashman. And with the mighty Sikh army poised to invade India, Flashman must go back into secret service and this time contend with the intrigues of the Court of Punjab.
Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. Flashman's at it again! Caught between two Chinese lovers, held captive by Borneo pirates and enslaved by a voluptuous Madagascan queen, Harry Flashman's doing better than ever.
Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. A mission calls for a master of disguise, deceit and treachery: there's only one man for the job. When a legendary femme fatale delivers him into the clutches of the dastardly Otto von Bismarck, Flashman will need all the cunning and seductive charm he can muster to escape this plot.
Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. Can a man be all bad? When Harry Flashman's adventures as the reluctant secret agent in Afghanistan lead him to join the exclusive company of Lord Cardigan's Hussars and play a part in the disastrous Retreat from Kabul, it culminates in the rascal's finest - and most dishonest - turn.
Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. A career in politics beckons for Flashman, until it's scuppered by a crooked game of cards. Forced to flee London, Flashy journeys to America where he encounters an assortment of characters, including a New Orleans madam and a young Mr Lincoln...
In the spirit of Flashman and in the inimitable George MacDonald Fraser style comes a rousing story of prize fighting in the 19th century. Reissued in a stunning new package, Black Ajax will attract a new generation of fans. When Captain Buck Flashman sees the black boxer catch a fly in mid-flight he realizes that he is in the presence of speed such as the prize ring has never seen. Tom Molineaux may be crude and untutored, but if `Mad Buck' knows anything (and like his notorious son, the archcad Harry Flashman, he has an unerring eye for the main chance), this ex-slave from America is a Champion in the making, on whose broad shoulders the ambitious Captain can climb to sporting and social fame. Under his patronage, the `Black Ajax' is carried on a popular tide of sporting fever to his great dream: to fight the invincible, undefeated Champion of England, the great Tom Cribb. The story of Molineaux and his eventual battles with Cribb is told through a series of superbly original and individual voices - colourful, powerful and funny. Together they create a magnificent picture of Regency England and a portrait of a flawed hero who surmounted the barriers of ignorance, poverty and race hatred to bring the prize ring a lustre it had never known before, and may never again.
This is a beautiful, moving tale from the bestselling author of the Flashman Papers . To the young Lady Margaret Dacre, raised in the rich security of Queen Elizabeth's court, the Scottish border was a land of blood and brutal violence, where raid and murder were commonplace, and her broad inheritance lay at the mercy of the outlaw riders and feuding tribes of England's last frontier. Beyond the law's protection, alone but for her house servants and an elderly priest, she could wait helpless in her lonely manor, or somehow find the means to fight the terror approaching from the northern night!
Repackaged to tie-in with hardback publication of `The Reavers' and to appeal to a new generation of George MacDonald Fraser fans, `The Pyrates' is a swashbuckling romp of a novel. The Pyrates is all the swashbucklers that ever were, rolled into one great Technicoloured pantomime - tall ships and desert islands, impossibly gallant adventurers and glamorous heroines, buried treasure and Black Spots, devilish Dons and ghastly dungeons, plots, duels, escapes, savage rituals, tender romance and steaming passion, all to the accompaniment of ringing steel, thunderous broadsides, sweeping film music, and the sound of cursing extras falling in the water and exchanging period dialogue. Even Hollywood buccaneers were never like this.
Repackaged to tie-in with hardback publication of `The Reavers' and to appeal to a new generation of George MacDonald Fraser fans, `Mr American' is a swashbuckling romp of a novel. Mark Franklin came from the American West to Edwardian England with two long-barrelled .44s in his baggage and a fortune in silver in the bank. Where he had got it and what he was looking for no one could guess, although they wondered - at Scotland Yard, in City offices, in the glittering theatreland of the West End, in the highest circles of Society (even King Edward was puzzled) and in the humble pub at Castle Lancing. Tall dark and dangerous, soft spoken and alone, with London at his feet and a dark shadow in his past, he was a mystery to all of them, rustics and royalty, squires and suffragettes, the women who loved him and the men who feared and hated him. He came from a far frontier in another world, yet he was by no means a stranger... even old General Flashman, who knew men and mischief better than most, never guessed the whole truth about Mr American .
If this is your author page then you can share your Twitter updates with your readers right here on LoveReading
Find out moreIf this is your author page then you can share your Facebook updates with your readers right here on LoveReading
Find out more