Kyril Bonfiglioli, the groundbreaking satirist whose writing The New Yorker described as "an unholy collaboration between P. G. Wodehouse and Ian Fleming," was truly a writer ahead of his time. In this hilarious novel, Bonfiglioli takes us back in time to an ironical maritime romp--Master and Commander by way of Monty Python.
Inspired by a shotgun blast in the seat of his breeches, young Karli Van Cleef quits his native Holland to seek his fortune. He arrives in early Victorian London and soon he is turning a pretty profit. But Karli sees that true opportunity flowers in India's fields of opium poppies and the treaty ports of the China coast. So he takes a berth in an opium clipper hell-bent for the Indies.
It is a journey beset with perils. Karli is confronted by the mountainous seas, high-piled plates of curry, and the ferocious penalties of the Articles of War. He survives the malice of the Boers, the hospitality of anthropophagi, and the horrors of Lancashire cooking. En route he acquires some interesting diseases, dangerous friends and enemies, a fortune, and a wife almost as good as new.
Fans and newcomers alike will revel in this picaresque tale of the early years of one of the men who helped make Britain great--for a consideration.
A must read for any sporting young man!Historical romp; convincingly executed parody of this type. Unscrupulous wastrel (and moma's boy), trysts with the wrong maidens and consequently must flee mid 19th century Holland for the wonder and wealth of the Far East. Author has a wonderful sense of place, invoking the taste and smells of the period, delighting in plot twists, daring escapes, flim flams and danger while providing an insightful travelogue. Not simply a ribald send up of the genre, but an affectionate tribute worthy of Stevenson, Defoe and Dumas. In flavor, comparable to Flashman saga
