Like saying goodbye to an old friend!

I finished the Hornblower series - all 11 novels!! But now I'm sad to not have another one to read!!

The novels were originally written out of order - after they became popular - I think because of the 1951 movie - they started combining them into trilogies and promoting them in chronological order.

His last novel, Beat to Quarters, actually fills in a gap between the first two. And the last one he wrote was unfinished, but the edition includes his notes for finishing the story. Too bad he didn't get to finish it - it sounded pretty flamboyant!

Also, there are two short stories that go with the Hornblower series - one not too interesting - but the other is called "The Final Encounter" and it relates the second Bonaparte - son of Napoleon - coming to see Hornblower and getting assistance to return to France! It's a nice little denouement, finding out how Hornblower is living out his years as a country squire.

(Maybe I just love that he ends up with Lady Barbara!!)

I was sorry to see the movies end, excited to read them, envisioning them filling long hours with swashbuckling adventure - and sad beyond words to see the books end.

Marcie brought be a George Eliot trilogy - Adam Bede, The Mill and the Floss and Silas Marner - that I will tackle next. It won't be Hornblower - but I hope it's compelling!