Books like 'Flying Colours'
Readers who enjoyed Flying Colours by C.S. Forester also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical action / adventure 20th century military, war & conflict historical-fiction classics war military nautical literary-fiction
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Manöver um Feuerland (The Far Side of the World) by Patrick O'Brian
Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsCaptain Jack Aubrey sets sail for Cape Horn, determined to intercept an American frigate before it can wreak havoc on the British whaling trade. As always, he is accompanied by intelligence operative Stephen Maturin, and as always, Aubrey has no idea of what his companion is up to...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Letter of Marque by Patrick O'Brian
Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsCaptain Jack Aubrey, a brilliant and experienced officer, has been struck off the list of post-captains for a crime he did not commit. His old friend Stephen Maturin, usually cast as a ship's surgeon to mask his discreet activities on behalf of British Intelligence, has bought for Aubrey his former ship the Surprise to command as a privateer, more politely termed a letter of marque...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Duell vor Sumatra by Patrick O'Brian
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsAmid sights and smells of the Indian subcontinent explore ships of the East India Company. Aubrey is on the defensive, pitting wits and seamanship against an enemy enjoying overwhelming local superiority. Somewhere in the Indian Ocean lies the prize that could make him rich - ships sent by Napoleon to attack the China Fleet...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure -
Sodan mainingit by Herman Wouk
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThese two classic works capture the tide of world events even as they unfold the compelling tale of a single American family drawn into the very center of the war's maelstrom.The multimillion-copy bestsellers that capture all the drama, romance, heroism, and tragedy of the Second World War -- and that constitute Wouk's crowning achievement -- are available for the first time in trade paperback...Categorized as:
classics epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military nautical war 20th-century -
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Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman, Robert Chandler
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsLife and Fate is an epic tale of a country told through the fate of a single family, the Shaposhnikovs. As the battle of Stalingrad looms, Grossman's characters must work out their destinies in a world torn apart by ideological tyranny and war...Categorized as:
classics epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military war 20th-century action-adventure -
The Winds of War by Herman Wouk
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsLike no other masterpiece of historical fiction, Herman Wouk's sweeping epic of World War II is the great novel of America's Greatest Generation.Wouk's spellbinding narrative captures the tide of global events, as well as all the drama, romance, heroism, and tragedy of World War II, as it immerses us in the lives of a single American family drawn into the very center of the war's maelstrom...Categorized as:
classics epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military war 20th-century action-adventure -
Nellie's Heartbreak: A compelling saga from the bestselling author the Mulberry Lane and Harpers Emporium series by Rosie Clarke
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA new stand-alone saga set in Yorkshire around out the outbreak of the second world war and the unlikely relationship between a master and servant.As a small child, Nellie Peace was always dreaming but sensed her mother’s rejection... -
The Killer Angels: A Novel of the Civil War by Michael Shaara
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsIncisive portraits of Lee, Longstreet, Meade, and other Civil War leaders are interwoven with rich historical detail to provide a fictional recreation of the bloody battle at Gettysburg, in a new thirtieth anniversary edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning historical novel. 10,000 first printing...Categorized as:
classics epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military war 20th-century action-adventure -
Arch of Triumph by Erich Maria Remarque
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsIt is 1939. Despite a law banning him from performing surgery, Ravic – a German doctor and refugee living in Paris – has been treating some of the city’s most elite citizens for two years on the behalf of two less-than-skillful French physicians...Categorized as:
classics epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military war 20th-century action-adventure -
Eagles Over Britain by Lee Jackson
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe German Luftwaffe attacks Britain from the skies.With no allies, she stands alone.Her fate hangs in the balance.As the first Axis aircraft streak across English Channel airspace, so begins a battle for the ages; one that will determine the trajectory of the war...Categorized as:
epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure -
The Commodore by Patrick O'Brian
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsHaving survived a long and desperate adventure in the Great South Sea, Captain Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin return to England to very different circumstances...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Nutmeg of Consolation by Patrick O'Brian, Simon Vance
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsShipwrecked on a remote island and threatened by Malay pirates, Captain Aubrey and crew barely escape before facing a diplomatic crisis at the harrowingly dreadful penal colony in New South Wales...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Reverse of the Medal by Patrick O'Brian
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsAshore between cruises, Captain Jack Aubrey is persuaded to sink some money into an investment scheme. Soon this innocent decision enmeshes him in various criminal and even treasonous enterprises, which threaten to destroy his entire career. Bad luck? A deliberate plot? Read this latest installment of the Aubrey-Maturin saga to find out...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Thirteen-Gun Salute by Patrick O'Brian
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsCaptain Jack Aubrey sets sail for the South China Sea with a new lease on life. Following reinstatement into the Royal Navy. Maturin climbs the Thousand Steps of the sacred crater of the orangutans. A killer typhoon catches Aubrey and his crew trying to work the Diane off a reef...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
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Always in my Heart by Ellie Dean
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAs the Japanese begin their assault on Singapore, Sarah Fuller is forced to leave her parents and fianc�, Philip, behind. The long journey to England is fraught with danger, and Sarah and her sister Jane don't even know if their great-aunt is alive, let alone waiting for them. They arrive in Cliffehaven, on the south coast of England, and here Sarah must find work to support them both...Categorized as:
epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
So Much Owed: An Irish World War 2 Story by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsIn a turbulent and uncertain world, the birth of two children revitalise a small Irish town and set the stage for a closer look into lives torn asunder by war. When Dr. Richard Buckley returns home to his wife and beloved hometown of Dunderrig, his mind is wearied by the ravages of The Great War...Categorized as:
epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Black Obelisk by Erich Maria Remarque
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom the author of the masterpiece All Quiet on the Western Front, The Black Obelisk is a classic novel of the troubling aftermath of World War I in Germany.A hardened young veteran from the First World War, Ludwig now works for a monument company, selling stone markers to the survivors of deceased loved ones...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction military war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Lieutenants by W.E.B. Griffin
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsThey were the young ones, the bright ones, the ones with the dreams. From the Nazi-prowled wastes of North Africa to the bloody corridors of Europe, they answered the call gladly. It was their duty, their job, their life. They marched off as boys, and they came back--those who made it--as soldiers and professionals forged in the heat of battle..Categorized as:
epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Truelove by Patrick O'Brian
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsA British whaler has been captured by an ambitious chief in the sandwich islands at French instigation, and Captain Aubrey, R. N., Is dispatched with the Surprise to restore order. But stowed away in the cable-tier is an escaped female convict. To the officers, Clarissa Harvill is an object of awkward courtliness and dangerous jealousies...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Frozen Hours: A Novel of the Korean War by Jeff Shaara
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe master of military historical fiction turns his discerning eye to the Korean War in this riveting new novel, which tells the dramatic story of the Americans and the Chinese who squared off in one of the deadliest campaigns in the annals of combat: the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, also known as Frozen Chosin. June 1950...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction military war 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Gone to Sea in a Bucket by David Black
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsLike all young men of a certain age, Harry Gilmour had his own notion of how a naval battle should be. This wasn’t it.Norway, 1940: Sub Lieutenant Harry Gilmour’s first encounter with battleship action is not the adventure he had hoped for. Faced with a thankless task and ill equipped to handle it, Gilmour’s inexperience leads to a damning allegation. His future hangs in the balance...Categorized as:
historical-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Night in Lisbon by Erich Maria Remarque
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsHistory and fate collide as the Nazis rise to power in The Night in Lisbon, a classic tale of survival from the renowned author of All Quiet on the Western Front. With the world slowly sliding into war, it is crucial that enemies of the Reich flee Europe at once. But so many routes are closed, and so much money is needed...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction military war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Beat to Quarters by C.S. Forester
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsJune 1808, somewhere west of Nicaragua-a site suitable for spectacular sea battles...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure -
Lieutenant Hornblower by C.S. Forester
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsIn this gripping tale of turmoil and triumph on the high seas, Horatio Hornblower emerges from his apprenticeship as midshipman to face new responsibilities thrust upon him by the fortunes of war between Napoleon and Spain...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure -
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A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom acclaimed novelist Mark Helprin, a lush, literary epic about love, beauty, and the world at war.Alessandro Giuliani, the young son of a prosperous Roman lawyer, enjoys an idyllic life full of privilege: he races horses across the country to the sea, he climbs mountains in the Alps, and, while a student of painting at the ancient university in Bologna, he falls in love...Categorized as:
classics epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military nautical war 20th-century -
Blue at the Mizzen by Patrick O'Brian
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsNapoleon has been defeated at Waterloo, and the ensuing peace brings with it both the desertion of nearly half of Captain Aubrey's crew and the sudden dimming of Aubrey's career prospects in a peacetime navy...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Hornblower and the Hotspur by C.S. Forester
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsHornblower's reconnaissance mission quickly turns to warfare in this installment of the beloved series of naval adventures by C. S. Forester, "a master of the genre" (New York Times). April 1803. The Peace of Amiens is breaking down. Napoleon is building ships and amassing an army just across the Channel...Categorized as:
classics epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military nautical war 20th-century -
Back to Battle by Max Hennessy, John Harris
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe crescendo of war; a crushing blow; a path to redemption... Peacetime political maneuverings are threatening Kelly Maguire’s ambitions for captain’s rank. But the outbreak of war, and the need for those who are willing to risk everything, changes all that...Categorized as:
historical-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
House of Glass by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWith House Of Glass comes the final chapter of Pramoedya's epic quartet, set in the Dutch East Indies at the turn of the century. A novel of heroism, passion, and betrayal, it provides a spectacular conclusion to a series hailed as one of the great works of modern literature...Categorized as:
classics epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military war 20th-century action-adventure -
Rosa's Gold - A Story of Holocaust Echoes by Ray Kingfisher
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNicole Sutton is a young girl with problems. A tragic car accident has taken away her brother, and ripped her parents' marriage apart. Together with her mother she moves to a new house, a new town, and a life she never wanted. In the dusty cellar of the house she stumbles upon a well-worn notebook – the scribbled war memoirs of Mac, an old soldier...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction military war 20th-century action-adventure adult book -
The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsUpon its original publication in 1951, this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was immediately embraced as one of the first serious works of fiction to help readers grapple with the human consequences of World War II...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure -
The Generals by W.E.B. Griffin, Eric G. Dove
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsThey were the leaders, the men who made the decisions that changed the outcome of battles... and the fate of continents.From the awesome landing at Normandy to the torturous campaigns of the South Pacific, from the frozen hills of Korea to the devastated wastes of Dien Bien Phu, they had earned their stars...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction military war 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"In the tempestuous closing decades of the sixteenth century, the Empire of Japan writhes in chaos as the shogunate crumbles and rival warlords battle for supremacy. Warrior monks in their armed citadels block the road to the capital; castles are destroyed, villages plundered, fields put to the touch." "Amid this devastation, three men dream of uniting the nation...Categorized as:
classics epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military war 20th-century action-adventure -
The Iceman by P.T. Deutermann
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Iceman is an action-packed World War II military thriller featuring a daring United States Navy submarine commander during the Pacific war in 1942-43.In 1942, off the port city of St. Nazaire in occupied France, a United States Navy S-class submarine assigned to the Royal Navy lurks just outside the borders of the minefield protecting a German U-boat base...Categorized as:
historical-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
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Night Song: A Story of Sacrifice by Tricia Goyer
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsTricia Goyer tells the little-known, but true story of the orchestra started by prisoners in Hitler's Mauthausen death camp. This courageous orchestra played the American national anthem as Allied troops arrived to liberate the camps...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction military war 20th-century action-adventure adult book -
The Little Ship: A heart-warming, sweeping wartime saga full of heart which will stay with you for ages by Margaret Mayhew
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSet largely on the Essex coast before the war, Matt, Guy, and their young cousin Lizzie meet up for holidays and bum around in an old boat. Guy is the eldest, handsome, skilled at everything, a tad selfish. Matt is quieter and has a crippled right arm... -
Flashman in the Great Game by George MacDonald Fraser
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsOne of literature's most delightful rakes is back in another tale of rollicking adventure and tantalizing seduction. The plucky Flashman's latest escapades are sure to entertain devotees as well as attract new aficionados...Categorized as:
classics epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military nautical war 20th-century -
Final Harbor: Volume 1 by Harry Homewood
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA DEADLY GAME OF HIDE AND SEEK She was a monster, sleek and gleaming, designed to strike without warning like the dreaded shark. She was the USS Mako, as fearless and bold as any submarine that ever prowled the blue Pacific. Her mission: seek out and destroy the hitherto invincible ships of the Japanese Imperial Navy — and revenge the earlier defeats of a long and dirty war...Categorized as:
historical-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The War Girls of Goodwill House: The start of a brand new historical saga series by Fenella J. Miller for 2022 by Fenella J Miller
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAs war looms, can they keep the home fires burning?Lady Joanna Harcourt and her daughter Sarah discover their life of luxury at Goodwill House is over. Because with Lord Harcourt away fighting, the Harcourt girls are facing financial ruin. Lady Joanna is terrified of losing their home, but for Sarah, this means her dreams of becoming a doctor are over...Categorized as:
epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Paris at First Light by Amanda Lees
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsParis, 1944: secret agent Juliette is on her most dangerous mission of the war so far. But then her children are kidnapped, and to get them back she may have to commit the ultimate betrayal – that of France itself…Four years ago, when France fell to the Nazis, Juliette made the ultimate sacrifice, leaving behind her two precious children to join the Resistance and defend her country...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction military war 20th-century action-adventure adult book -
Sharpe's Waterloo by Bernard Cornwell
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsJune 1815: The Duke of Wellington, the Prince of Orange, and Napoleon will meet on the battlefield...and decide the fate of EuropeWith the emperor Napoleon at its head, and enormous French army is marching toward Brussels. The British and their allies are also converging on Brussels - in preparation for a grand society ball...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction military war 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Harm's Way by James Bassett
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsRockwell Terry is a career naval captain who has served since WWI. Now is the dawn of another world war as his ship patrols outside Pearl Harbor. He leads a sheltered life, goes nowhere and sees no one. With the outbreak of the war, his past begins to emerge... -
Command by Antony Melville-Ross
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrozen fingers, broken bones, shattered hearts… the situation could not get worse. Or so Lieutenant Peter Harding thought. The Trigger has just left UK shores and is on its way to northern Norway when the relentless storm hits. Harding’s crew are barely surviving the Artic conditions which face them...Categorized as:
historical-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Lion at Sea by Max Hennessy
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsMidshipman Kelly Maguire has always had a love affair with the sea. And when war clouds gather over Europe, Maguire is put to the test along with the marine might of the Royal Navy. From the Hellish battles of Gallipoli to the barbarous action at Antwerp, Maguire begins to learn the lessons a sailor must face. Glory and danger abound in this sizzling saga of adventure, blood and guts... -
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Ship of the Line by C.S. Forester
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsHornblower leads his first ship of the line into enemy waters in this installment of C. S. Forester's beloved adventure series, called "exciting, realistic, packed with grand naval action" by the New Yorker. May 1810, seventeen years deep into the Napoleonic Wars...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure -
The Skipper's Dog Called Stalin by David Black
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSpring, 1941. France has fallen but the Free French naval forces are in no mood to surrender. Royal Navy Sub-Lieutenant Harry Gilmour is also ready for action, despite the horrors of his first taste of submarine warfare.When he is appointed as British Navy Liaison Officer aboard the Free French submarine Radegonde, he finds it anarchic, disorientating—and very French...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Trustee from the Toolroom by Nevil Shute
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA novel tells the story of a man who leads an ordinary, uneventful life, until overnight he becomes the trustee of his 10-year-old niece, and involved in the search for some missing money...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction military nautical 20th-century action-adventure adult -
From These Broken Streets by Roland Merullo
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsRoland Merullo, bestselling author of Once Night Falls, returns with a galvanizing historical novel of Nazi-occupied Naples and the rage and resistance of a people under siege.Italy, 1943. The Nazi occupation has cemented its grip on the devastated city of Naples.Giuseppe DiPietra, a curator in the National Archives, has a subversive plan to aid the Allies...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction military war 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Gone To Soldiers by Marge Piercy
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn a stunning tour-de-force, Marge Piercy has woven a tapestry of World War II, of six women and four men, who fought and died, worked and worried, and moved through the dizzying days of the war. A compelling chronicle of humans in conflict with inhuman events, GONE TO SOLIDERS is an unforgettable reading experience and a stirring tribute to the remarkable survival of the human spirit."Panoramic.Categorized as:
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Das Boot by Lothar-Günther Buchheim
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIt is autumn, 1941, and a German U-boat commander and his crew set out on yet another hazardous patrol in the Battle of the Atlantic. Over the coming weeks they must brave the stormy waters of the Atlantic in their mission to seek out and destroy British supply ships. But the tide is beginning to turn against the Germans in the war for the North Atlantic...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction military nautical war 20th-century action-adventure
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