By C.S. Forester
On a recent 1000 mile road trip, Shannan and I had the option of driving with Agent Zero or C.S. Forester's Mr. Midshipman Hornblower.We took the nautical route and were pleasantly surprised at how Forester drew us into the early life and adventures of Horatio Hornblower, his multi-book protagonist.
Churchill introduced me to the midshipman. The British Prime Minister read Captain Hornblower R.N. on a transatlantic crossing. As a Churchill admirer, I was intrigued by what he read. I bought the book and dove in . . . as much to understand Churchill as enjoy the story. However, as I "turned the pages," I could see why Churchill, lover of the sea, was attracted to Forester's tale. Hornblower, his life, and the late 18th century period of Great Britain's Navy resonated with the former First Lord of the Admiralty.
Hornblower was a mere 17 when he set sail on his nautical career. Unspectacular and untested, the young midshipman navigates the challenges of manhood while at the same time life at sea. I appreciate Audible's review:
Forester's hero is singular in his unrelenting feelings of self-doubt and reserve, which render him a more likeable and relatable leader and protagonist. Commented by the San Francisco Chronicle as 'one of the great masters of narrative' C.S. Forester wrote 10 other books in the Hornblower series....
I have Mr. Midshipman Hornblower in both paper and Audible. Christian Rodska's narration is delightful. He brings the times and characters to life, placing reader right alongside Horatio Hornblower on the high seas and in the high adventures.
The reader can add leadership lessons to pure enjoyment:
1. Leadership and loneliness: "Hornblower locked the door and put the keys in his pocket, and felt suddenly lonely -- his first experience of the loneliness of the man in command at sea." (p. 50)
2. Leadership and crisis: "He began to feel that life in the navy, although it seemed to move from one crisis to another, was really one continuous crisis, that even while dealing with one emergency it was necessary to be making plans to deal with the next."
3. Leadership and perspective: "The longboat turned, away from the beach and towards the welcoming ships. Hornblower looked back at the darkening coast of France. This was the end of an incident; his country's attempt to overturn the revolution had met with a bloody repulse. Newspapers in Paris would would exult; the Gazette in London would give the incident five cold lines. Clairvoyant, Hornblower could foresee that in a year's time, the world would hardly remember the incident. In twenty years, it would be entirely forgotten. Yet those headless corpses up there in Muzillac; those shattered redcoats; those Frenchmen caught in the four-pounder's blast of canister -- they were all as dead as if it had been a day in which history had been changed. And he was just as weary. And in his pocket there was still the bread he had put there that morning and forgotten all about." (p. 180)
4. Leadership and character Don't miss chapter 10, "the Duchess, and the Devil," especially Hornblower's decision to return to his prisoner status and the resulting consequence painful and joyful. (p. 307ff).