Hornblower Completed

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29952, 13 October 1962, Page 3

Hornblower Completed

HornbloWfcr and the Hetspar. By C. 8. Forester. Michael Joseph. 287 pp. The newest of the Hornblower series fits between “Lieutenant Horablower” and “Hornblower and the Atropos” At the book’s beginning. Hornblower is at the altar with the first of his two wives, Maria. There is time for a brief honeymoon before Hornblower puts to sea in his first command H.M.S. Hotspur ,to keep an eye on the French ships waiting in Brest preliminary to a declaration of war that everyone knows is coming. When expectations are realised, Hornblower and his Hotspur are in the forefront of the maritime observers of the Channel Fleet in its blockade of Brest. This leads to exciting days at sea, in gales and in action, and there is an exciting command-type operation against a semaphore station embarrassingly-sited from the viewpoint of toe British fleet We learn a good deal about Hornblower's domestic life in letters from Maria to “her most Loved, her most Adored Idol," and a good deal, more about toe strengths and weaknesses in his character, about Ms likes and dislikes, and about toe chronic poverty that besets him—HoMtotower’s proneness to seasickness?we are forced to deplore all over again. Mr Forester’s touch is always present—taut, seamanlike literacy style; power to evoke period; excellent characterisations. This book, it is said, completes toe Homblower series. It is. a series that will always be a memlorial to its creator.

[From the "New York Times" Literary Supplement] The most recent of C. S. Forester’s Hornblower books came out the other day—- “ Hornblower and the Hotspur”—and was received both here and in England with the welcome due an old friend. The book is the tenth of a series, and perhaps due to the fact Horatio Hornblower is such an old friend, there’s a tendency to overlook the fact he’s also an industry, ranking up there With automobiles and TV. The United States sales of the books—without “Homblower and the Hotspur”— now have reached 4,201,087 copies. Although Mr Forester’s publisher’s in London prefer to keep the Commonwealth figures close to their chests, certainly an equal number of copies have been sold there. The books have been published in nearly 50 languages. Publication of the Hornblower books began in 1937 with “Beat to Quarters." They have been written and published out of sequence so far as Hornblower's career is concerned. If you’ve come in late upon the Horablower industry, here is the chronological order, the publication date in each case being in parenthesis: “Mr Midshipman Horablower’’ (1950); “Lieutenant Horablower” (1952); “Hornblower and the Hotspur” (1962); “Hornblower and the Atropos” (1953); “Beat to Quarters” (1937); “Ship of the Line” (1938); “Flying Colours" <1939); “Commodore Horablower" (1945); “Lord Hornblowec” (1946); “Admiral Horablower in the West Indies” (1958).