Flashman and The Mountain Of Light, by George McDonald-Fraser

Latent Book Club Review #2303

In Flashman and the Mountain Of Light, GMF’s classic hero of historical fiction wends his un-politically correct way swashbuckling through colonial British India.

You know exactly what you’re getting in a Flashman novel. Harry Flashman - a racist, sexist, imperialist ruffian - with a surprising capability for introspection on his own failings (a device necessary for the narrative to move) as a a coward, toady and bully is off on a romp around the Victorian empire once more. 

In Flashman and the Mountain of Light, this time H.F. is reminiscing about the liberation of the Koh-I-noor, ‘The Mountain of Light,’ the enormous diamond once sported by queen Victoria. 

Any item with a history both as controversial and apocryphal as the Mountain of Light is a great starting point for a novel. And we have to remember that this is historical fiction, so GMF can essentially write whatever he wants here, provided of course Flashman is at all the important places during the set piece battles that are historically verifiable. 

It’s only slightly surprising that the novel fails to deliver on both the thrills and its central premise then, as it is a slightly dull 250-ish pages that follow what should be a segue into a ripping story. 

Why?

Well, it’s just not that interesting. Flashman is recruited as a Diplomat for England, and thrust into India at the commencement of the first Anglo - Sikh war. Ostensibly, he is there to try and recover a dowry, posing as a lawyer. But the lawyer premise is hairily discarded and barley returned to throughout the story (there is  even a reference to it being forgotten about close to the end). While Flashman is trying to sow seeds of disaffection amongst the Sikh army, who are portrayed as extremely efficient and bloodthirsty, and ready to tear holes in the British, Flashman romps around India’s royal palaces, bonking everything in sight, and escaping why the skin of his teeth at nearly every occasion.

So it should be interesting then. And It has some charms: What I admire about GMFs writing is the speed he can get you into and describe the action, and make you feel as though you’ve seen it. True, it’s written in the ‘wizard wheeze’ style, namely that of 'Boys Own' - full of derring-do, and narrow escapes. So it’s hard to take the action too seriously. That said, when it comes, it’s easy to imagine; so I liked it for that. GMF’s writing is really a reminder of what you can do with few words - and how little you need to visualise a scene. He leaves you with nothing that is not compelling. That is quite a skill. His ability as a writer is also underscored in his extremely well formatted dialogue,  which gives you what the speaker is saying AND Flashman's impressions of it at the same time. Doing that is no mean feat - he’s writing from the first person remember - putting essentially one character’s speech and another character’s impressions into an exchange of dialogue, and making it flow, without being confusing? That IS writing - his scriptmanship shines through.

I also admire the way that he details the sex scenes. GMF heeds Martin Amis’ advice on this topic - just tell us who was involved, how it went, and what it meant. It never came off as lewd, or tawdry, it just gave enough flesh to the character to portray Flashman as the bawdy reveller he is.

I like that GF manages to weave this story in with his other books in the series, including ones yet to be written. The character arc for Flashman must have been intricately laid out, or had at least enough possibilities for further exploration that you didn’t notice when earlier escapades that didn’t come off were referenced. Remember that although it comes chronologically earlier in the Flashman series, Flashman and The Mountain Of Light was one of the latter Flashman books written by GF, which makes this feat all the more impressive.

But writing aside when the plot comes its thin stuff - GMF is basically railroaded into making Flashman at least be at all the defining battles. He also manages to chuck in a narrow escape from torture, a narrow escape from (what turns out to be) his allies, and a narrow escape with the young prince Dalip Singh on horseback - only to be betrayed again, naturally. There are at least three double crosses in this book from Flashman’s perspective, and I got so fatigued reading them it was hard to concentrate or care any more about much of the contrived peril on offer. Yes, it has got to be there to keep up the rhythm of the book (which dashes along nicely, as it happens), but I just didn’t enjoy it.

The book ends when the Koh-i-noor, which has seemingly been forgotten - given to Flashman as a gift by Dalip Singh, as he knows it will be stolen - is presented to the British Lord Hardinge By  Flashman as part  of the defeated Indian army’s treaty terms. Dismissed by Hardinge earlier in the novel, Flashman revels in the schadenfreude he knows will come as he flings the diamond at Hardinge, allowing him to complete the treaty. 

So contrived, formulaic, but still fun - and providing a History lesson on the way, it was a pleasant read, if not exactly a great one.