Hornblower’s Temptation and the Last Encounter

by C. S. Forester Book 12 in the Hornblower Saga series.

First published 1967

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4.0(172)

This volume brings together two short Horatio Hornblower stories set at opposite ends of his life. In “Hornblower’s Temptation,” the young lieutenant faces a difficult moral and professional decision during the early years of his naval career, when rank gives him responsibility without much protection from the consequences of error.

“The Last Encounter” moves forward to 1848 and an elderly Hornblower whose active service is long behind him. His meeting with Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte provides a final link between the veteran of the Napoleonic Wars and the political upheavals of a later generation. Read together, the stories frame Hornblower’s career from youthful uncertainty to old age, showing how Forester uses small encounters rather than fleet battles to test judgement, duty and the habits formed by a lifetime in the Royal Navy.