Flashman and the Angel of the Lord

Written by George MacDonald Fraser

Narrated by David Case

If only Flashman had got on with his dinner and ignored the handkerchief dropped by a flirtatious hussy in a Calcutta hotel... well, American history might have been different, a disastrous civil war might have been avoided, and Flash Harry himself would have been spared one of the most hair-raising adventures of his misspent life. If only... but alas, the arch-rotter of the Victorian age could never resist the lure of a pretty foot and this latest extract from The Flashman Papers soon finds him careering towards the little Virginian town of Harper's Ferry, where John Brown and his gang of rugged fanatics were to fire the first shot in the great war against slavery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Jan 5, 2010
• ISBN: 9780307734860

George MacDonald Fraser

The author of the famous ‘Flashman Papers’ and the ‘Private McAuslan’ stories, George MacDonald Fraser has worked on newspapers in Britain and Canada. In addition to his novels he has also written numeous films, most notably ‘The Three Musketeers’, ‘The Four Musketeers’, and the James Bond film, ‘Octopussy’. George Macdonald Fraser died in January 2008 at the age of 82.

Reviews for Flashman and the Angel of the Lord

[seriousgrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you have been keeping track, the Flashman papers are now in the years 1858 to 1859. Flashman is thirty six years old and back in America where old enemies remember him and new enemies are out to blackmail him. He's not back by choice, though. Someone from his past had an old score to settle. So here's Harry, knee deep in the conflicts of slavery...again. This time he's working with "the angel of the Lord," John Brown of Harper's Ferry fame. Yes, THAT John Brown.
Interestingly enough, Fraser decided to scale back the sex scenes for this particular installment. In addition to not having many opportunities to shag the lady next door, Flashman appears to be growing up some. To some he doesn't appear to be as cowardly or as shallow...He still tries to get out of getting out of the October 1859 raid on Harper's Ferry but as usual, is unsuccessful.

[dinadansfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've never brought this up before, but do you realize there's a similarity between Fraser's Flashman, and Terry Pratchett's Rincewind the Wizzard?
Well, maybe you have to be there, and maybe I've got to stop reviewing these two authors one after the other? Flashman comes face to face with the famous American Abolitionist, John Brown. I was surprised to discover that Brown was in reality a very conscious martyr for the Cause! Ah, the media were a poison even in the run-up to the Civil War. It's a good Flashman story.

[santhony_35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Our intrepid hero, Harry Flashman, is back for volume ten of the Flashman Papers, a narrative of the life and times of one of the most ne’er-do-well wastrels to ever grace the pages of a published autobiography.

The first five Flashman novels were presented in chronological order. Several installments thereafter acted to fill in gaps in the story. From a chronological standpoint, the adventures of this novel immediately follow those contained in Flashman in the Great Game, wherein we left Flashman on the heels of his wholly unintentional heroics displayed in the great Indian Mutiny of 1857. Harry decamps to South Africa, on the way home to England, where he is hijacked and kidnapped by his old nemesis, Captain John Charity Spring. Spring arranges for Flashman’s transport to the United States, where he expects Flashman to be arrested and arraigned for his exploits which were covered in a previous installment, Flash For Freedom.

As in the previous Flashman novels, our Harry is revealed as the premier coward and opportunist of his era; faults which he quite willingly admits and even boasts of. Much as a prior day Forrest Gump, he has a way of finding himself among the most powerful and famous personages of his era, as he takes part in the great events of the period, in this case, John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry.

Aside from uproarious fun and games, the Flashman series is set against historical events and actually serves as an educational experience. On to volume eleven of the Flashman Papers.

[antiquary_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In effect a sequel to Flash for Freedom, one of the best in the series. This is not so good--Flashy himself is almost a bystander --but it does give a vivid picture of John Brown as a man who deliberately chose martyrdom

[mrsplum_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Discovering Flashman has been my highlight for 2010.

Fraser’s skills as a novelist and historian is such that he created a character who remains ultimately likeable, despite his treatment of women. There have been many such men in life – why not in art?

While Flashman’s professed neutrality on the slavery ‘question’ may be difficult to swallow (at least to this modern reader), his attitude to puritans and fanatics is refreshing. Long live Flashman!

[john5918 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another in the series about Victorian cad, coward, liar and lecher Flashman, of Tom Brown's Schooldays fame (or infamy). In this one Flashy is tricked, lured and/or blackmailed into joining John Brown on his famous raid on Harper's Ferry, part of the run-up to the Civil War in that part of the world.

This book is as funny and cleverly put together as the others, with a lot of attention to historical detail and plausibility (and Flashman is nothing if not plausible - he spent his life practising it). However it differs from many of the others in that Flashy acts almost bravely at times, and seems to have developed a liking and respect for John Brown, whilst at the same time, of course, trying to cheat him.