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The General Danced at Dawn
The McAuslan Stories (Related to this series)
- Author
- George MacDonald Fraser
- Narrator
- David Monteath
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date
- 10 June 2021
- Run Time
- 6 hours 9 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
Private McAuslan was ‘the biggest walking disaster to hit the Army’. Loosely based on his own experiences in a Scottish regiment, and written with rare humour, a sense of the ludicrous and real affection for soldiering, the first volume of George MacDonald Fraser’s McAuslan trilogy now finally comes to life on audio.
Private McAuslan, J. – the Dirtiest Soldier in the World (alias the Tartan Caliban) – demonstrates his unfitness for military service in this first volume of stories of life in a Scottish regiment. Unkempt, ungainly and unwashed, civilian readers may regard him with shocked disbelief. But generations of ex-servicemen have hailed him with delight as a familiar friend – because every old soldier can remember a McAuslan!
McAuslan first shambled into public view – manfully swinging his right arm in time with his right leg – in George MacDonald Fraser’s THE GENERAL DANCED AT DAWN in 1970. Greeted with laughter and great affection (and spawning two sequels and a TV adaptation), these hilarious memoirs of life in a Highland regiment after the last war capture the exploits and misadventures of life in the British Army.
Based on MacDonald Fraser’s own experiences in the Border Regiment and the Gordon Highlanders, which took him to India, Africa and the Middle East, these stories demonstrate the celebrated author of the swashbuckling FLASHMAN series at his hilarious best.
Critics Review
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‘Thanks to Fraser’s passion for history, his rare gift for rattling narrative and his infectious delight in robust, rollicking language, we can rejoice in a work of genius worthy of being ranked with P.G. Wodehouse – there can be no higher accolade’—Daily Telegraph
‘Written with the kind of unaffected vigour which has characterised the greatest British humorists, these stories do for the Scots what Flann O’Brien did for the Irish and P.G. Wodehouse for the English’—Daily Mail
‘The third McAuslan volume should certainly be among the first books you pack this or any other holiday season’—The Times
‘One takes leave of these characters with real and grateful regret’—Sunday Times
‘It’s a while since I enjoyed a book so much, and once I’d finished it, I felt like starting it all over again’—Glasgow Evening Times
‘It’s great fun and rings true: a Highland Fling of a book’—Eric Linklater, author of The Wind on the Moon
‘The greatest book about soldiers since Ian Hay wrote The First Hundred Thousand … MacDonald Fraser is magnificent’—Eric Hiscock, author of Around the World in Wanderer III
‘As well as providing a fine assortment of treats, George MacDonald Fraser is a marvellous reporter and a first-rate historical novelist’—Kingsley Amis, author of Lucky Jim
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Details
- Author
- George MacDonald Fraser
- Narrator
- David Monteath
- Duration
- 6 hours 9 minutes
- Release Date
- 10 June 2021
- ISBN
- 9780008455088
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Genre
- Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Classic fiction: literary and general, War, combat and military adventure fiction, Humorous fiction, Fiction: pastiche, Fiction based on or inspired by true events, Narrative theme: coming of age, Narrative theme: sense of place
Synopsis
Private McAuslan was ‘the biggest walking disaster to hit the Army’. Loosely based on his own experiences in a Scottish regiment, and written with rare humour, a sense of the ludicrous and real affection for soldiering, the first volume of George MacDonald Fraser’s McAuslan trilogy now finally comes to life on audio. Private McAuslan, J. – the Dirtiest Soldier in the World (alias the Tartan Caliban) – demonstrates his unfitness for military service in this first volume of stories of life in a Scottish regiment. Unkempt, ungainly and unwashed, civilian readers may regard him with shocked disbelief. But generations of ex-servicemen have hailed him with delight as a familiar friend – because every old soldier can remember a McAuslan! McAuslan first shambled into public view – manfully swinging his right arm in time with his right leg – in George MacDonald Fraser’s THE GENERAL DANCED AT DAWN in 1970. Greeted with laughter and great affection (and spawning two sequels and a TV adaptation), these hilarious memoirs of life in a Highland regiment after the last war capture the exploits and misadventures of life in the British Army. Based on MacDonald Fraser’s own experiences in the Border Regiment and the Gordon Highlanders, which took him to India, Africa and the Middle East, these stories demonstrate the celebrated author of the swashbuckling FLASHMAN series at his hilarious best.
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