Lord Hornblower. By C.S. Forester

Lord Hornblower

C. S. Forester (1946)

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Hornblower (still Sir Hornblower when the book opens) is sent to put down a mutiny by a ship  which is anchored of the coast of France, threating to defect unless their demands are met. Hornblower successfully puts down the mutiny, at the same time destroying some French shipping and capturing a few others, thus making him and his crew richer by the ‘prize money’.  He is offered a deal for the surrender (or ‘declaration for King Louis’) by the port town of Le Havre in exchange for special trading rights for a powerful company there. He accepts this. Captain Bush and the Nonsuch, and a couple of other ships join his fleet, bringing along a complement of soldiers. Hornblower goes ashore with these soldiers, takes over the town, accepts the declarations of the Mayor and the big shots of the town, and starts governing. One of the princes of the French court is sent to Le Havre to take it over in the name of the King. Hornblower recieves him while all the while thinking about the news he recieves about a massive siege train sent by Napoleon from Paris to Le Havre, under the generalship of Quiot, another historical figure. He sends a trop of soldiers and seamen in the command of Bush, up the river Seine, to take the seige train by surprise and destroy it. This operation is successfully carried out, but Bush loses his life, the greatest personal loss suffered by Hornblower in the entire series, except for Maria and the two children. Barbara comes out to Le Havre to join him, and Hornblower finds himself growing a bit distant from her, her presence while he performs his duties being irksome to him. They receive news that Napoleon has been captured and is interned on the island of St. Helena. They go to Paris, where he learns that he has been made a Peer, Lord Hornblower of Smallbridge. At a reception, they meet Marie and her father-in-law, with whom Hornblower spent a few months on escaping from French custody some years previously. Barbara elects to go to the conference in Vienna, where she will serve as hostess for her brother. Hornblower returns to Smallbridge. But bored there, he makes a trip to France, now under the Bourbon King, to stay sometime with Marie and her father-in-law. While there they learn that Napoleon has escaped, gathered together a large contingent of troops and has marched once again on Paris. Hornblower, Marie and the nobleman lead a small guerrilla resistance, but eventually the nobleman and Marie are killed, and Hornblower is captured and about to be shot the next day, when news comes of Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo. Hornblower is reprieved at the last moment.