Flashman



	Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser

	So this is the first in Fraser's series of books about the adventures of Harry Paget Flashman, self-confessed scoundrel and coward of the Victorian era. Harry Flashman was the school bully in a novel by Thomas Hughes called Tom Brown's Schooldays, but Fraser decided he was a far more interesting character and decided to trace his later career. Thus, the book opens as Flashman explains that he was expelled from Rugby school for drunkess, as recounted in Hughes' novel, while making a major correction: even at 17 he knew not to mix liquors. Flashman then decides to join the army, counting on soft garrison duty at home and hoping to use his uniform to impress the girls. However, through a series of misadventures, Flashman finds himself marrying beneath himself, which gets him shipped off to India, and ultimately the First Afghan War. The novel is exceptional historical fiction, accurate and well researched. Flashman interacts with a cast of mostly real histrorical personages, and Fraser neatly works him into the actual events. Most reviews of these books stress the humor, although most of it is pretty black and not really laugh-out-loud funny. Personally, I thought the funniest bits were those involving the colossal sexual ignorance of Victorian girls. Excellent historical adventure with a good dose of gallows humor. Recommended.

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