C. S. Forester
2 books
- One ordinary seaman with a rifle, alone on a bare volcanic island, holding up a German cruiser almost by stubbornness. Forester tells it coolly, even the love story behind Brown's birth, and the ending is bleak in a way that stays with you, so don't expect heroic glow.
- Forget Hornblower, this is Forester at his bleakest: a broke bank clerk does one terrible thing in his shabby suburban house, then can't stop staring at the back garden. You watch guilt corrode a whole family in slow motion.