By the third book you'd think it would have been pounded into my skull that Flashman is Not a Nice Person. Usually in fiction the lovable scoundrel eventually does something altruistic, but Flashman is consistently horrible. I'm not surprised when he fails to be moved by the suffering around him, unless it inconveniences him, but I keep expecting him to get sentimental about one of the women he becomes involved with. It still startles me that while he occasionally admits to fond feelings, he never even hesitates to betray or abandon one of them to save his own skin. One of Harry Flashman's few positive qualities is a sharp eye for a hypocrite, and we see the two-faced dealings of British lords who abhor far-off slavery but own local factories where children are worked to death, and the paternalistic American abolitionists who think of themselves as benevolent angels rescuing "simple creatures" from bondage. We're also treated to a portrait of young Abraham Lincoln, one of the few characters in the series perceptive enough to instantly see Flashman for the "rascal" he is. George Hiscoe and Thomas Little - A pair of slave traders who Flashman is given to by the Mandevilles, charged with delivering him and Cassy to a plantation. Both are killed by Cassy in the course of their escape. Annette Mandeville - The wife of a Southern slave owner who has an affair with Flashman before framing him for rape when the affair is discovered, causing her husband to sell him as a slave in revenge. She later reappears in Flashman and the Angel of the Lord as an agent of the Kuklos conspiracy, who ultimately kill her for betraying them. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2023-05-22 09:17:35 Autocrop_version 0.0.14_books-20220331-0.2 Bookplateleaf 0002 Boxid IA40944624 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier

At any rate, he lost no opportunity of airing his Latinity to Comber and me, usually at tea in his cabin, with the placid Mrs. Spring sitting by, nodding. Sullivan was right, of course; they were both mad. You had only to see them at the divine service which Spring insisted on holding on Sundays, with the whole ship’s company drawn up, and Mrs. Spring pumping away at her German accordion while we sang ‘Hark! the wild billow’, and afterwards Spring would blast up prayers to the Almighty demanding his blessing on our voyage, and guidance in the tasks which our hands should find to do, world without end, amen. I don’t know what Wilberforce would have made of that, or my old friend John Brown, but the ship’s company took it straight-faced – mind you, they knew better than to do anything else.”It’s all tremendous stuff, full of the usual (on Fraser’s part) erudition and wit and (on Flashy’s part) lechery, as well as, of course, the historical tweaking: Flashman meets a young Disraeli, a young Lincoln, and even serves as the inspiration for Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famous book. Superb historical parody, historical fiction, and pure entertainment all in one. Oh, a final thought: Flashy’s definitely gotten a lot braver since the first book. Scared or not, it takes guts to pull a gun on a killer, or even keep one’s wits enough to play-act in the face of danger. That’s most likely a good thing, of course; as a reader, one can take only so much helpless, quivering terror from the narrator.

In my review of "FLASHMAN IN THE GREAT GAME" (1975), I had stated that there are at least six novels from George MacDonald Fraser’s series about the adult adventures of Harry Flashman, the cowardly bully from "Tom Brown’s School Days", that I consider among the best that the author has written. One of these six novels happens to be "FLASH FOR FREEDOM!". Crixus - An operative of the Underground Railroad who press-gangs Flashman into trying to help Randolph escape. He later reappears in Flashman and the Angel of the Lord. A run in with the US Navy after they unload most of the slaves at Honduras lands Flashman and the crew in the USA, but he has a scheme, and ends up on the side of the law, but not for long. The Underground Railroad engage his services to accompany a man up to Canada, but even then circumstances conspire against Flashy, and he must make an escape again. From here, the story is far from over. Sullivan - A slave-trader aboard the Balliol College. He is shot and seemingly killed by Spring, but Flashman and the Tiger retcons this by mentioning that he was murdered by Sebastian Moran. Flash for Freedom! is a 1971 novel by George MacDonald Fraser. It is the third of the Flashman novels.Flash for Freedom begins with Flashman considering an attempt at being made a Member of Parliament and continues through his involvement in the Atlantic slave trade, the Underground Railroad, and meeting a future president, detailing his life from 1848 to 1849. It also contains a number of notes by Fraser, in the guise of editor, giving additional historical information on the events described. Peter Omohundro - A slave-catcher who recognises Randolph while Flashman is trying to smuggle him out, leading to Flashman abandoning his charge. He later reappears in Flashman and the Redskins, where he recognises Flashman in a bar and tries to have him arrested, but is killed by Spring.

After a scandal involving cheating and assault, England becomes too hot for young Flashman and his father-in-law sends him off. Flashman suddenly realizes that he’s on a slave ship captained by a lunatic bound for Africa to take on a cargo of slaves, and he’s horrified. Not so much about slavery but that running slaves is proscribed in 1848 and he’s fearful of the ship being seized by an in­ter­dict­ing navy. They transport a cargo to the Americas but offload it before being captured by the U.S. Navy. Flashman manages to pose as a Royal Navy spy, then escapes before having to give testimony. He flees up the Missis­sip­pi in a variety of guises; re­luc­tant­ly escorting escaped slaves; subsequently becoming a slavedriv­er himself for a while before the slaveowner has Flashman sold into slavery; escaping across a frozen river to be saved from slave­catch­ers by Con­gress­man Abraham Lincoln; before ending up in a New Orleans courtroom. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Cassy had burst out laughing, or in a fit of raage, but she did something that horrified Mrs. Payne more than either could have done. She bent down and gave me a long, fierce kiss on the mouth, while her chaperone squawked and squeaked, and eventually bustled her away. Presented within the frame of the supposedly discovered historical Flashman Papers, this book describes the bully Flashman from Tom Brown's School Days. The papers are attributed to Flashman, who is not only the bully featured in Thomas Hughes' novel, but also a well-known Victorian military hero. The book begins with an explanatory note detailing the discovery of these papers, the supposed controversy concerning their authenticity and Fraser's hinted at vindication through an article from The New York Times from 29 July 1969. [1] The story is quite a simple one, Flashman finds himself in hoy water over a card game. His father-in-law helps him to escape England, which he does on a slave ship heading off to Africa. Once they arrive in Africa, they manage to acquire a cargo of slaves from a local tribe in Dahomey and set sail for the Americas. Fearing interception by the Royal Navy, the captain offloads most of the cargo in the West Indies and continues on for New Orleans.Cassy - A young female slave who helps Flashman escape from his imprisoners in Mississippi. Courageous and passionate she bemuses Flashman by her mixed judgments of his character. Captain John Charity Spring M.A. - The formidable and eccentric captain of the Balliol College, a slave ship owned in part by Morrison. He continually utters Latin phrases (conveniently translated by Fraser). Spring reappears in Flashman and the Redskins and finally as a wealthy Cape Colony landowner in Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, where he settles his outstanding grievances against Flashman by having the latter kidnapped. Spring is referred to as having "long gone to his account" in Flashman and the Tiger, having been murdered by Sebastian Moran. Lady Caroline Lamb - A slave transported by the Balliol College whom Flashman "covers" and to whom he teaches some English and (to startle Spring) Latin phrases. Flashman gives her the name of a famous British aristocrat.