Flying Colours by C. S. Forester
Feb. 6th, 2023 04:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
regshoeI think the Hornblower books are really getting good now...
Flying Colours (1938) is the third Hornblower novel in publication order and the eighth in chronological order. It picks up after the cliffhanger at the end of A Ship of the Line, in which Hornblower has just lost a battle with the French; he is now a prisoner in Spain, being glum and annoyed about missing out on all the cool naval battles, and the action kicks off when he is told that he and Lieutenant Bush, also a prisoner, are to be taken to Paris, where Napoleon intends to Make an Example of them. Bush is badly wounded, having lost a foot in that battle, but that's no obstacle to the cruelties of the French; and so he and Hornblower set off, escorted by a French officer and accompanied by Brown, one of Hornblower's crew who becomes their servant. Naturally, Hornblower is not thrilled about this whole 'going to Paris to be shot' thing, and events do not go according to the plans of the dastardly French...
I was promised some good hurt/comfort in this book, and it did not disappoint! Hornblower is terribly distressed by the hardships which Bush is subjected to, forced to undertake a long carriage journey while recovering from an amputation, and takes care of him very tenderly in his slightly clumsy, emotionally repressed way. I mean, you know how I feel about this sort of thing:
While on the way to Paris Hornblower, Bush and Brown undertake a daring escape, and subsequently find shelter at the house of the Comte de Graçay, an old Royalist who would probably have made a good D. K. Broster character. Here the hurt/comfort is—I thought—rudely interrupted by an annoying love affair between Hornblower and the Comte's widowed daughter Marie—though having talked tosanguinity, who interprets this as a deeply closeted Hornblower throwing himself at the nearest available woman in horrified reaction to having got too close to Bush in all that tender hurt/comfort, and having also read this very good fic about Marie and Bush, I am now less annoyed by it. But however one feels about this heterosexual interlude, the best part of the book is yet to come! While lying low and convalescing at the Château de Graçay, our heroes plan how they're to get out of France: the château lies near the River Loire, and they will go by boat down the river to the coast and thence escape to England.
And there follows a ridiculously enjoyable sequence where they do just that. Floating down the Loire, Hornblower, Bush (newly equipped with his dashingly piratical wooden leg) and Brown are in a little peaceful bubble, isolated from the Navy, war, society, unsatisfactory love affairs and all the other things that encourage Hornblower's terrible brain issues. He is as happy as he's ever been. Also Forester turns into a fanfic writer again and things like this happen:
Hornblower's wife Maria was pregnant when he last saw her at the beginning of A Ship of the Line. In all his thoughts about what might have happened to her and the child in the meantime it struck me as strange that he never thinks she might have died—was maternal mortality that low by the 1930s that Forester forgot how likely it was in the 1810s?—but then another possibility occurred to me, and it turns out this is what happened: Maria has died, and he wanted to keep it a surprise. So now a) Maria, poor woman, is dead; I do feel terribly sorry for her, it was not a happy lot, b) Hornblower is no longer stuck in an unhappy marriage and he is free to marry Lady Barbara, about which he feels a remarkable lack of glad anticipation and a notable amount of gloom; I suspect this won't go well and c) he now has a baby son, and there is an adorable though brief scene towards the end in which Hornblower plays with the baby and is happy for a few moments. I want Bush and Hornblower to go somewhere far away from everything and work out their issues in peace and contentment and raise the baby together and live happily ever after. (And Brown can come too!—I was quite tempted to ship all three of them together during the Loire sequence).
I've also read three Hornblower short stories set/written around this point in the series, all of them very interesting; and I've begun working my way through the excellentsanguinity's list of fic recs. Altogether I am very much enjoying this series :D
Flying Colours (1938) is the third Hornblower novel in publication order and the eighth in chronological order. It picks up after the cliffhanger at the end of A Ship of the Line, in which Hornblower has just lost a battle with the French; he is now a prisoner in Spain, being glum and annoyed about missing out on all the cool naval battles, and the action kicks off when he is told that he and Lieutenant Bush, also a prisoner, are to be taken to Paris, where Napoleon intends to Make an Example of them. Bush is badly wounded, having lost a foot in that battle, but that's no obstacle to the cruelties of the French; and so he and Hornblower set off, escorted by a French officer and accompanied by Brown, one of Hornblower's crew who becomes their servant. Naturally, Hornblower is not thrilled about this whole 'going to Paris to be shot' thing, and events do not go according to the plans of the dastardly French...
I was promised some good hurt/comfort in this book, and it did not disappoint! Hornblower is terribly distressed by the hardships which Bush is subjected to, forced to undertake a long carriage journey while recovering from an amputation, and takes care of him very tenderly in his slightly clumsy, emotionally repressed way. I mean, you know how I feel about this sort of thing:
Bush’s hand which lay outside the blanket twitched and stirred and moved towards him; he took it and he felt a gentle pressure. For a few brief seconds Bush’s hand stroked his, feebly, caressing it as though it were a woman’s. There was a glimmer of a smile on Bush’s drawn face with its closed eyes.Top-notch, fanfic-quality stuff. I also quite liked the period medical detail about the process of Bush's recovery and, later on, his learning to walk with a wooden leg.
While on the way to Paris Hornblower, Bush and Brown undertake a daring escape, and subsequently find shelter at the house of the Comte de Graçay, an old Royalist who would probably have made a good D. K. Broster character. Here the hurt/comfort is—I thought—rudely interrupted by an annoying love affair between Hornblower and the Comte's widowed daughter Marie—though having talked to
sanguinity, who interprets this as a deeply closeted Hornblower throwing himself at the nearest available woman in horrified reaction to having got too close to Bush in all that tender hurt/comfort, and having also read this very good fic about Marie and Bush, I am now less annoyed by it. But however one feels about this heterosexual interlude, the best part of the book is yet to come! While lying low and convalescing at the Château de Graçay, our heroes plan how they're to get out of France: the château lies near the River Loire, and they will go by boat down the river to the coast and thence escape to England.And there follows a ridiculously enjoyable sequence where they do just that. Floating down the Loire, Hornblower, Bush (newly equipped with his dashingly piratical wooden leg) and Brown are in a little peaceful bubble, isolated from the Navy, war, society, unsatisfactory love affairs and all the other things that encourage Hornblower's terrible brain issues. He is as happy as he's ever been. Also Forester turns into a fanfic writer again and things like this happen:
There were the two nights when it rained, and they all slept huddled together under the shelter of a blanket stretched between willow trees—there had been a ridiculous pleasure about waking up to find Bush snoring beside him with a protective arm across him.Finally they reach the coast, and even more dramatic adventures ensue before they return to England. Besides all the absurd levels of slashy hurt/comfort, I really enjoyed the adventure of this book: what with the daring escape down a river, fleeing through a dangerous French countryside and even the audacious theft of an enemy vehicle, I almost felt like I was reading a Worrals novel (and then, checking the publication date, I began imagining Worrals and Frecks reading this book and comparing Hornblower's adventures to their own).
Hornblower's wife Maria was pregnant when he last saw her at the beginning of A Ship of the Line. In all his thoughts about what might have happened to her and the child in the meantime it struck me as strange that he never thinks she might have died—was maternal mortality that low by the 1930s that Forester forgot how likely it was in the 1810s?—but then another possibility occurred to me, and it turns out this is what happened: Maria has died, and he wanted to keep it a surprise. So now a) Maria, poor woman, is dead; I do feel terribly sorry for her, it was not a happy lot, b) Hornblower is no longer stuck in an unhappy marriage and he is free to marry Lady Barbara, about which he feels a remarkable lack of glad anticipation and a notable amount of gloom; I suspect this won't go well and c) he now has a baby son, and there is an adorable though brief scene towards the end in which Hornblower plays with the baby and is happy for a few moments. I want Bush and Hornblower to go somewhere far away from everything and work out their issues in peace and contentment and raise the baby together and live happily ever after. (And Brown can come too!—I was quite tempted to ship all three of them together during the Loire sequence).
I've also read three Hornblower short stories set/written around this point in the series, all of them very interesting; and I've begun working my way through the excellent
sanguinity's list of fic recs. Altogether I am very much enjoying this series :D
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Date: Feb. 6th, 2023 05:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Feb. 6th, 2023 07:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Feb. 6th, 2023 08:05 pm (UTC)There's also a 1950-something movie starring Gregory Peck that covers the Beat to Quarters to Flying Colours trilogy. Sadly, it's aged badly on the racism front and left out all the shippiest stuff in Flying Colours, but it's still got some good stuff in it, if you're willing to meet it where it is.
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Date: Feb. 6th, 2023 06:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Feb. 6th, 2023 07:33 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: Feb. 7th, 2023 07:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Feb. 6th, 2023 06:27 pm (UTC)There are so many good shippy moments. I'm a big fan of the handholding in the carriage, of course (how could I not be, having put an 'ardent handholding' tag on so much of my Hornblower fic?) I also like the point where Hornblower is considering letting himself die from hypothermia, and then he remembers that BUSH might die from hypothermia, and he drags himself from his snowbank to go save him. :-D
I do have beef, though, with the line about the two of them never having shown each other the smallest sign of affection before the carriage ride, but that's mostly because Forester retconned that alleged fact to hell and back later on when he sat down to write the prequels.
I'm pleased to know you're enjoying the recs, and also that my "Agh, gay feelings, must throw myself at a woman" reading of Hornblower works for you. I think its a valid reading at one or two other points in the series, too. (*cough, marrying Maria, cough*)
I'm also happy to say that this won't be the last of the "fic or forester?" moments, although Flying Colours really does stand above (most of) the rest for high-octane shipping fuel.
But yay, I'm so pleased you liked it. Flying Colours really is one of my absolute faves in the series.
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Date: Feb. 6th, 2023 07:43 pm (UTC)how could I not be, having put an 'ardent handholding' tag on so much of my Hornblower fic?
What an excellent writing and tagging choice :D And yes, the hypothermia moment is another very good one.
Out of context I rather like that line about them never having shown any affection before, but I did think it seemed slightly inconsistent with Lieutenant Hornblower, what with the pineapples and all! But I think it's a good direction in which to retcon things :D
I think its a valid reading at one or two other points in the series, too. (*cough, marrying Maria, cough*)
Yes, I can see that. Poor Hornblower, poor Bush and poor Maria :(
I'm also happy to say that this won't be the last of the "fic or forester?" moments
Oh good, I'll look forward to more of those moments!
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Date: Feb. 6th, 2023 08:01 pm (UTC)My first read was by internal chronology, and I fairly goggled when I hit that line. And then I did what any sane and well-adjusted person does, which is to write fic disputing it. ;-) (No link now, though, because spoilery for the prequels. Actually, there's a lot of excellent Flying Colours stuff that I didn't rec yet, because spoilery for other parts of the series. But I saved them all for a later rec post, don't worry.)
And yes, it is a good direction to retcon things. The bond between Hornblower and Bush obviously came to mean more to Forester the farther he got into writing the series, and that was only to the fandom's benefit, imo.
Poor Hornblower, poor Bush and poor Maria :(
God, I know. *spills even more pixels on the three of them, trying to fix Hornblower's bad choices*
ETA: Oh, while I'm celebrating favorite moments from Flying Colours:
Such a concise little bit of dialogue, and yet I have so! many! feelings! about it.
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Date: Feb. 7th, 2023 05:06 pm (UTC):D
And I am really liking the Flying Colours-based fic I've read so far, so it's good to know there's more spoilery stuff for later on.
Fixing Hornblower's bad choices, what a worthy challenge for a fic writer...!
Aah, I loved that moment as well—that straightforward 'You're coming too' —!!!
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Date: Feb. 7th, 2023 06:00 pm (UTC)I have to repeat that line: There was a fierce perverse pleasure in neglecting himself to attend to Bush. My god. The two of them. I just.
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Date: Feb. 7th, 2023 06:45 pm (UTC)There was a fierce perverse pleasure in neglecting himself to attend to Bush.
*buries head in hands* Oh, Hornblower... such terrible messed up hurt/comfort, what a good thing.
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Date: Feb. 8th, 2023 06:44 pm (UTC)*shipping intensifies*
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Date: Feb. 8th, 2023 07:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Feb. 8th, 2023 09:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Feb. 6th, 2023 07:48 pm (UTC)And now you can read
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Date: Feb. 6th, 2023 07:51 pm (UTC)Ooh, yes, that fic caught my eye on the recs list! I'm looking forward to it—I'm working my way through the Château de Graçay ones at the moment.
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Date: Feb. 7th, 2023 10:30 am (UTC)This is one of mt favourites, for all the above reasons, and because at one point Hornblower takes Bushes hand of his ownb accord and we're not told that he lets go. So, presumably for the rest of the carriage joutney thrpugh France, and indeed the rest of the series, they are in fact holding hands. Which isn't far off the truth.
*de-emerges again*
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Date: Feb. 7th, 2023 05:17 pm (UTC)