Blog Nº 52
“It ain’t always easy, if your knees knock as hard as mine, but you must remember the golden rule: when the game’s going against you, stay calm – and cheat.”
Harry Flashman
I am always delighted to reunite with our morally ambiguous Victorian hero Harry Flashman, this time in Flashman at the Charge. This instalment of the Flashman Papers sees our friend unwillingly wrapped up in some of the British Army’s most famous offensive and defensive actions of the Crimean War, and of all time.
The novel opens with Harry once again enjoying a debaucherous existence in London. He unwittingly meets one of Queen Victoria’s young cousins, William of Celle, in a billiards hall, only to later on be assigned as his mentor and protector by Prince Albert, on account of his valiant reputation as a soldier (which we the reader know to be questionable). As a direct consequence of this, Harry finds himself being shipped off to the Crimean War to show young William what soldiering is all about. Despite William’s untimely death on the battlefield, Flashy is not spared from further military action. He is directly involved in The Thin Red Line, the Charge of the Heavy Brigade and the Charge of the Light Brigade. Powered only by fear and flatulence he reaches the Russian guns ahead of the other surviving chargers where he promptly surrenders and is taken to Russia.
Imprisoned comfortably in Count Pencherjevsky’s castle, he reunites with old schoolfriend Scud East who has also been taken prisoner. A failed escape attempt sees Flashy imprisoned with warrior Yakub Beg, who are both rescued by fellow Uzbek and Tajik resistance fighters. Many adventures ensue which eventually see Russian supplies being taken out by Congreve rockets and Flashman arriving safely in British India, armed with yet another heroic tale.
Like the other Flashman instalments, Flashman at the Charge is full of wit, amusing but sound societal commentary and Flashman’s unabashed desire to save his own skin by any means necessary. Flashy once again manages to manoeuvre through some of history’s key events – with a good dose of female company, drunkenness and cunning thrown in – to further cement his repuation as a brave and gallant British military hero.
As ever, I look forward to delving into the next chapter in the Flashman saga to see what one of my favourite literary characters gets up to next.
Happy reading,
Imo x
ImoReads 