C.S. Forester

If You Like C.S. Forester…
Try These Authors and/or Series

The Horatio Hornblower novels of author C.S. Forester captured the essence of seafaring battles of the Napoleonic Wars with extremely realistic descriptions of shipboard life, authentic dialogue and effectively described naval battles. They’ve also inspired numerous imitators and/or successors. For readers interested in seafaring adventure or warfare novels from this same time period, we recommend the authors on the follow shortlist, as being the closest in style and substance to the classic novels by Forester. The author names are hotlinked to their holdings in our catalog, so that you may check on the availability of their titles in print or audio formats.

For a much more extensive list of Naval Adventure fiction, from a variety of different time periods and settings, please check out our Anchors Aweigh booklist!

[Note: C.S. Forester is also the author of numerous books outside of the Horatio Hornblower series, including The African Queen.]

Bernard Cornwell (Sharpe’s series — non-naval)
Frederick Marryat (various standalones)
Philip McCutchan (Lt. Halfhyde series)
Victor Suthren (Edward Mainwaring series)
Patrick O’Brian (Aubrey and Maturin series)
Richard Woodman (Nathaniel Drinkwater series)
Dewey Lambdin (Alan Lewrie series)
Alexander Kent (Richard Bolitho series)
Dudley Pope (Nicholas Ramage series)
Julian Stockwin (Thomas Kydd series)

Posted and last updated July 2006 sdc / last updated March 2008 sdc