The Good Shepherd

by C. S. Forester

Overview

"C. S. Forester is the First Admiral of all the seven seas of fiction," wrote John P. Marquand after reading The Good Shepherd. "Commander George Krause, USN, skipper of the American destroyer Keeling, is a long jump from Forester's best known hero Horatio Hornblower. But Commander Krause for my book is exactly as good as Hornblower ever was."
The mission of the commander was to lead the protecting screen of four escort vessels convoying thirty-seven Allied merchantmen across the icy North Atlantic from America to England. It was in the most critical days of WW II, when the German submarines had the upper hand and Allied shipping was suffering heavy losses.
The tense, concentrated action begins when Commander Krause is called to the bridge just after he has taken a much deserved shower. The wolf pack is forming and he has not time even to put on warm outer garments. For the next forty-eight hours he remains on the bridge.
Exhausted beyond measuare, he must make continuous and critical decisions as he leads his small fighting force against the relentless U-boats. Inevitably ships are sunk and men are drowned, but the enemy pays the price and the convoy pushes on to its objective.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940013592728
Publisher:	eNet Press Inc.
Publication date:	11/01/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	310
Sales rank:	81,294
File size:	876 KB

About the Author

C. S. Forester (1899 - 1966) wrote several novels with military and naval themes, including The African Queen, The Barbary Pirates, The General, The Good Shepherd, The Gun, The Last Nine Days of the "Bismarck" and Rifleman Dodd. But Forester is best known as the creator of Horatio Hornblower, a British naval genius of the Napoleonic era, whose exploits and adventures on the high seas Forester chronicled in a series of eleven acclaimed historical novels. Over the years, Hornblower has proved to be one of the most beloved and enduring fictional heroes in English literature, his popularity rivaled only by Sherlock Holmes.

Born Cecil Louis Troughton Smith in Cairo, Egypt, Forester grew up in London. At the start of World War II, he traveled on behalf of the British government to America, where he produced propaganda encouraging the United States to remain on Britain's side. After the War, Forester remained in America and made Berkeley, California, his home.

The character of Horatio Hornblower was born after Forester was called to Hollywood to write a pirate film. While the script was being drafted, another studio released Captain Blood, starring Errol Flynn, based on the same historical incidents about which Forester was writing. Rather than seek another movie project, and to avoid an impending paternity suit, Forester jumped aboard a freighter bound for England. By the end of the voyage he had outlined Beat to the Quarters, which introduced the now legendary character Hornblower, Bush, and Lady Barbara.

Forester died in 1966 while working on Hornblower During the Crisis.

Author biography courtesy of Time Warner.

Date of Birth:

August 27, 1899

Date of Death:

April 2, 1966

Place of Birth:

Cairo, Egypt

Place of Death:

Berkeley, California

Education:

AlleynGuy's Medical School of the University of London