So, Flashman was a great read. It’s the fictional memoir of Harry Paget Flashman, whose first claim to fame was as the school bully in Tom Brown’s Schooldays (which I haven’t read, but believe me, it’s high on the TBR stack now!). In this first episode he is expelled from school, has a fling with his father’s mistress, gets married in what amounts to a shotgun wedding, joins the army, goes to fight in the First Afghan War, and comes back such a hero that he even gets to meet the Queen.

Flashy is a true anti-hero: he’s a cad, a coward, and a scoundrel of the first degree. If he does do the right thing, it’s for all the wrong reasons. In one scene, for example, he and his underling are attacked by four bad guys. Flashy, of course, turns tail and runs for it. The underling kills all the bad guys but is himself killed in the process. Flashy returns to the scene, stabs one body just to make sure it’s really dead, and then is discovered, sword dripping, surrounded by corpses, and only too happy to take credit for the carnage. This is typical.

Two things I particularly liked about this book. First, I love it that Flashy has no illusions about himself. He’s the first to tell you he’s a poltroon, and he thinks his exploits are hilarious. (I love people who laugh at their own jokes.) And second, I loved learning about the First Afghan War, which, I must confess, I’d never even heard of. From what I understand, this depiction of the war is very accurate. A brief recap: the British were soundly beaten, mainly due to the incompetence of their own military leaders, and then they were massacred as they retreated. There is a famous painting of the sole survivor of the 14,000+ troops and camp followers who tried to retreat back to India through the Khyber Pass. (Of course, in this story, Flashy also survives, but only because he manages a cowardly escape well ahead of the rest.) This novel gave me a clear picture of the causes of the war, the political intrigues, and the military fiascoes. I don’t read much nonfiction (like Inkling, I’d rather be shown than told), but I like to learn something when I’m reading fiction. In that respect, Flashman was very satisfying and I look forward to the sequels.