The General

Blurb

Forester is best known for his famous series of Horatio Hornblower novels which he began in 1937; few of his other works are well-known: The General and The African Queen are exceptions and remain popular.
The General follows the career of Herbert Curzon from his experiences in the Second Boer War to the happy day when he is given command of his regiment on the outbreak of the Great War. Curzon is unexceptional in every way, an officer like any other officer, and it is the very ordinariness of Forester's character that serves to give the novel power.
As the Great War begins, Curzon takes his part as a major of an unfashionable cavalry regiment. He is given a temporary promotion to regiment command and then quickly a brigade command. At the First Battle of Ypres he manages to keep his head about him and, upon the death of his brigadier, becomes a general. Curzon returns to England while his unit is in Belgium. He makes an advantageous marriage to the daughter of a Duke which gives him political connections to the Opposition "Bude House" set.