ROYAL FLASH

by George MacDonald Fraser ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 9, 1970

Continuing the jovial hoax-us-pokus, Packet Two of the purported memoirs of one Harry Flashman, Victorian bedsman and hellraiser. Freshly minted hero of military campaigns in India and Afghanistan (""The fact that I had gone through the campaign in a state of abject terror. . . was known to no one but myself""), Flashman falls into the jaws of Otto yon Bismarck (the very same). And leading him within is the notable Lola Montez, who a short time after exhausting the considerable attributes of Flashman in amorous sport, was helping Ludwig lay down his Bavarian burdens. Bismarck forces Flashman to double for a hapless Danish Prince in a marriage to the lovely, erstwhile icy, Duchess of Strackenz, a sensitive Bismarckian power-point. The ruse takes and the Duchess succumbs, but it's all a plot to discredit England and Flashman is marked for death. Escapes and dungeons, gleeful executions, a Flashman heist of the Crown Jewels and then a clever fleece by Lola which reduces Flashman to a dim gleam indeed. This book is dedicated to all the film greats who might have played the Prisoner of Zenda, in the spirit of which this happy, bawdy tale holds thumb to nose.

Pub Date: Sept. 9, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1970

Categories: FICTION