Flashman on the March

September 19, 2005
Last seen in Flashman and the Tiger
(2000), that incomparable English rogue, Sir Harry Flashman, is up to his usual amatory and military hijinks in the 12th installment of Fraser's masterful Flashman papers. Having seduced a silly Austrian princess on the ship bearing the body of Maximilian, the ill-fated emperor of Mexico, back home to Trieste in 1867, Harry eludes the offended Austrian authorities by seizing the chance to become the British envoy on a mission to rescue a group of European hostages held by the mad Abyssinian king, Theodore. (When Whitehall neglected to respond to the polite letter Theodore wrote Queen Victoria, he took captive a few hundred unfortunate foreigners.) This now obscure expedition, which made headlines in its day, provides the kind of sardonic history lesson fans have come to relish. Allusions to adventures not yet published tantalize, notably those to do with Flashman's role in the U.S. Civil War. Fraser has nibbled at the edges (Flashy was there for John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry in 1995's Flashman and the Angel of the Lord
), and one can only hope that the next volume does more than simply mention such iconic names as Gettysburg. Agent, Gelfman Schneider.

November 15, 2005
Fraser's latest Flashman adventure follows the successful pattern of the previous 11: a roguish scoundrel of a British officer pursues women and generates scandals but, in the end, proves himself to be an outlandishly effective soldier. The year is 1867, and Flashman needs to extricate both himself and the British Empire from a particularly delicate imbroglio involving an Austrian princess. Volunteering for duty on a mission to rescue a group of British citizens being held hostage by barmy Abyssinian king Theodore--an expedition steeped in historical fact--he tackles his assignment, the African continent, and, being Flashman at his amorous best, a native beauty with equal gusto. Fans of Flashy's Victorian-era escapades will not be disappointed by this witty and woolly tale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)