The Happy Return

By: C. S. Forester

Narrated by: Christian Rodska

Exclusively from Audible

The year is 1808 and somewhere off the coast of Nicaragua, C.S. Forester's hero returns, ready to embark on his next swashbuckling adventure.

The fifth instalment in the series, The Happy Return follows Captain Horatio Hornblower as he commands the thirty-six-gun frigate, HMS Lydia. Sent out on a mission to weaken the colonial Spanish government, Horatio must form an alliance with a narcissistic revolutionary leader with delusions of grandeur, who goes by the name of 'El Supremo'.

Simultaneously faced with an advancing Spanish fleet and their far superior fifty-gun ship, Natividad, Horatio must find a way to 'take, sink, burn or destroy' his enemies or fail and be made to face the British courts. Adding insult to injury, Horatio is furthermore challenged by the arrival of a singularly attractive passenger, the influential Lady Barbara Wellesley. Vulnerable, alone and seeking passage to England, Horatio cannot refuse the lady, but as a happily married man, he finds himself tortured by Barbara's tempting nature and astounding beauty.

An English novelist, C.S. Forester was highly praised by his contemporaries for his Napoleonic naval warfare series, and later for the publication of The African Queen.

Despite his natural ability and endless imagination, Forester came to writing much later than expected. Having originally studied medicine at Guy's Hospital, it was only after his travels with the Royal Navy that he was artistically inspired, developing in particular, a fervent love of story-telling. Sadly stricken with arteriosclerosis whilst voyaging to the Bering Sea, C.S. Forester was crippled in his later life, but his imagination and his skill with a pen survived for years to come.

Narrator Biography

Christian Rodska is an English television and voice actor best known for his role in the 1970s series Follyfoot.

From The Monuments Men and The Eagle of the Ninth to The Likely Lads, Z Cars, The Tomorrow People, Coronation Street, Bergerac and Casualty, his extensive and diverse acting career has led him to become a highly solicited radio and audiobook narrator.

He has now voiced over 150 unabridged audiobooks including Winston Churchill's biographies, Evelyn Waugh's Men at Arms and Sebastian Faulks' A Possible Life. He has been praised for his ability to vary in vocal pace and style and as such, Christian boasts 12 Earphone Awards from Audiofile Magazine.

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Fantastic book

One of my favorite books.

The battle scenes leave me as tired as Hornblower they are so realistic.

It is one of the best love stories I have ever read.

Horblower is Great!

Where does The Happy Return rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

As good as the best, maybe better.

What did you like best about this story?

Everything except that it ended. Fortunately, there is another in the series which takes up where this one leaves off.

Have you listened to any of Christian Rodska’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have listened to his other Hornblower narrations, and this is as good as the others, which are great.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

In the battle with the Natividad, when the crew cheered for "Hornie" as he berated and threatened them.

Any additional comments?

Lovers of historical adventure novels and just plain first class writing should start with Midshipman Horblower and get on board for one of the best reads in the English language. Churchill and Hemingway were big Hornblower fans. Find out why.

Hornblower at his Best

Quintessential Hornblower. This one's a movie, starring Gregory Peck, made in 1951: "Horatio Hornblower, RN." Unlike former books in the series, this one's a whole story, not a collection of stories. In this plot, the bad guy is a Panamanian named "El Supremo"--great sense of humor, that Forester. And, HH's ship blows up his nemesis ship and sinks him: the description is moving. Further, HH flubs a romance that will probably come back to bite him later. Our hero should have worked out some of his social foibles by his age, 37, in this book. But does not. Oh well, let's see what the next one brings?

Dramatic presentation

I loved all of it. I am a huge fan of British Naval Adventure stories

Wonderful book

I find the entire Hornblower series to be excellent. This book was no exception. I first read it years ago when I had the flu. Despite feeling awful, I couldn't put it down.