Flash for Freedom! (The Flashman Papers): Book 5

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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. 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. These books are often called "un-PC"—fair enough. But I'd make the case that they are far from glorifying or romanticizing the attitudes of the time; instead they have a sneaky way of making you feel guilty by association, of recognizing uncomfortable parallels with the modern world. This is the 3rd book in the Flashman adventure series. I found this book very disturbing. The premise is that Flashman gets involved in a bit of gambling scandal (for once not his fault) and his father-in-law decides to get him out of the country and puts him on a sailing ship. It turns out the ship is a slavery and Flashman finds himself off the coast of Africa taking on a load of slaves and then heading to America. As he tries to return to England, he will be involved with the Underground Railroad, meet Lincoln and find his life at risk many times. That is the basic story. 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!".

Looney - A servant aboard the Balliol College and a friend of Sullivan. Flashman convinces him to shoot Spring after he shoots Sullivan. The Bad - Flashman can't be described as an anti-hero is an unabashed coward who will do anything to ensure his survival. He's a racist, an sexual misogynist. The portrait of the slave trade is dark, scary and very disturbing. The language gave me shudders and left me feeling cold. Flashman's attitude to the slaves and women he encounters is negative and he treats them as objects to be used. To think that everything that happens in Flash for Freedom!, the third of the Flashman novels, arises out of a game of pontoon (with Benjamin Disraeli, no less) is testament to the writing abilities of author George MacDonald Fraser. The plotting is spectacular, and it is a wonder that ol' Flashy even gets into these messes, let alone gets out of them. He always seems like he's done for, but once again the jammy sod gets through his adventures essentially none the worse for wear, and usually having sampled the finest of the local women. 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.The NYT article is instead about the publisher's ( World Publishing Company) concerns that 10 of the 34 reviewers of Flashman had ignored the publicity material that stated the book was a novel. Instead, these reviewers had praised the memoir for its "ring of authenticity", but "the only difficulty with these encomiums for Sir Harry Flashman is that he is a complete fiction". [2] The confusion is somewhat understandable because "Fraser has been lauded for his meticulous research, thrilling plotting and sensitivity to the realities of history and human nature, as well as his refreshingly non-PC attitudes. ,,, and "his peerless gift for dialect and slang., but it is the device of the series’ outspoken and morally dubious protagonist that makes such accounts stand out." [3] 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. Not that Flashman is subject to the morals of normal men... he manages to find his way on the ship, and shows he is still all about looking after himself. 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.

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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] 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. 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. At the end of the novel, Flashman claims that his escape with Cassy across the Ohio River was the inspiration for the anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, with the names altered and the story focusing on the slave Cassy rather than Flashman.

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 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. 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. The Good - hard to find anything edifying in this story. However, considering the current climate in the US, the denial of systemic racism by the right, the mistreatment of Negroes by the police, Republican governors passing anti-voting laws and denying Critical Race teaching in schools, it's probably not a bad book to be read as it describes the slave trade and treatment of slaves in the harshest possible terms. Even though it's fiction, there are interesting factoids provided at the end of the story. His description of the period is excellent (accurate? well, I can't actually verify it as I'm not quite that old), you can see it in your mind very clearly. The appearance of Abe Lincoln made me feel better, one of the positives in the book.

Success!

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. 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.

Good-bye,’ says Cassy, and that was the last I ever saw of her – or of the two thousand dollars we had had between us.”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. George Randolph - An educated and intelligent quadroon who twice attempts to organize slave risings in the South. The anti-slavery underground railroad movement manipulates Flashman into escorting the fugitive Randolph to freedom in Ohio. The equally conceited and self-centered duo detest each other. Randolph is presumed dead after falling overboard from a Mississippi steamboat, but is reported as having reached Canada alive at the end of the novel.