Flying Colours

By: C. S. Forester

Narrated by: Christian Rodska

Exclusively from Audible

In the eighth instalment of C.S Forester's naval series, Horatio Hornblower finds himself down on his luck. Having been forced to surrender his ship to the French, following a long and bloody battle, he is imprisoned by his enemies and threatened with the prospect of being tried by French courts and executed if found guilty.

Knowing that he will also likely come up against a court martial in England for having lost command and possession of The Sutherland, Horatio's future is bleak and uncertain.

As his wife, Maria, struggles to deliver a healthy baby and the thought of his mistress, Lady Barbara, taunts him in his jail cell, Hornblower realises that he must do whatever it takes to prevent the impending doom heading his way and ensure that neither lady is left to fend for herself.

Hugely celebrated for his Napoleonic warfare series, and later for the publication of The African Queen, C. S. Forester came to writing much later than expected. Having originally studied medicine at Guy's Hospital, Forester first developed a love of story-telling after being inspired by his travels with the Royal Navy.

Sadly stricken with arteriosclerosis whilst voyaging to the Bering Sea, C.S. Forester was crippled in his later life, but his imagination and his skill with a pen survived for years to come.

Narrator Biography

Christian Rodska is an English television and voice actor best known for his role in the 1970s series Follyfoot.

From the The Monuments Men and The Eagle of the Ninth to The Likely Lads, Z Cars, The Tomorrow People, Coronation Street, Bergerac and Casualty, his extensive and diverse acting career has led him to become a highly solicited radio and audiobook narrator.

He has now voiced over 150 unabridged audiobooks including Winston Churchill's biographies, Evelyn Waugh's Men at Arms and Sebastian Faulks' A Possible Life. He has been praised for his ability to vary in vocal pace and style and as such, Christian boasts 12 Earphone Awards from Audiofile Magazine.

Please note: this is a vintage recording. The audio quality may not be up to modern day standards.

©1938 C.S. Forester (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Flying Colours

I have almost finished the Patrick O'Brian series of Capt Aubrey and was looking for something similar in the Audible library when I came across C.S. Forester. I remember the movies about Hornblower but realised I had never read the books. This was most enjoyable story, Hornblower is captured by the French and is on way to Paris to be executed when he escapes. Lots of suspense and information on the French and English navies. Christian Rodska does a good job narrating the story. Looking forward to reading all of this series.

Great performance

If you are a fan of naval action in the Age of Sail, C.S. Forester's Flying Colours will not disappoint. If you are familiar with the Hornblower series, you will see Horatio's character flaws manifested in action rather than imagined. You will be captured from the opening lines
to the last, a large part due to the engaging performance of the reader.

Audible hope you have enjoyed this program

Great book, and well performed but why did they have to change the last soundbite? There’s a wonderful nostalgia to be found in the scratchy old recording of “audible hope you have enjoyed this program”.

Romance and Adventure

Adventure in a variety of settings and circumstances with enough romance to provide a welcome change, now and then. I find catalogs of sea fights can get monotonous, but this novel is one of the very best of the series. (Just wish Horatio would give himself (and us) a break from his constant self-flagellation!)
The narration, as usual, makes this a spell-binding story. I’m going to listen to the next one right away.

Best one so far

Have been listening to the Hornblower novels in chronological order. The plot of this one is particularly good - even includes a Huck Finn adventure down a river! Rodska does a fabulous job with the characters (Bush and Brown) and the various French accents. Looking forward to the next book!

What’s not to like?

First rate adventure story, excellent writing, perfect narrator. This is one of my favorite Hornblower books. Unique in that much of the action takes place on land (and river) rather than at sea, but thrilling nonetheless.

Fantastic

Well read. Fascinating view into 19th century war when massive sailing vessels ruled the waves.

Inconsistently good

The novel itself is variable in its quality of writing (not as consistently good as the first two books in the series, publication order), but the reader's performance is as excellent as it has been so far in the series. Hornblower's adventurous exploits are exciting; his other activities less so.

Good book good reading .

Great book with beautiful voice work Christian Rodska deserves an award for this reading.

The best of the Hornblower books!

I love all of the books, and Christian Rodska's performances are uniformly superb, but this is the most exciting book. If you're not working through the series (and you really should), then listen to this one if you listen to no other.