Harry Flashman: the unrepentant bully of Tom Browns schooldays now with a Victoria Cross has three main talents -- horsemanship facility with foreign languages & fornication. A reluctant military hero Flashman plays a key part in most of the defining military campaigns of the 19th century despite trying his utmost to escape them all. Expelled from Rugby for drunkenness & none too welcome at home after seducing his fathers mistress the young Flashman embarks on a military career with Lord Cardigans Hussars. En route to Afghanistan our hero hones his skills as a soldier duellist imposter coward & amorist (mastering all 97 ways of Hindu love-making during a brief sojourn in Calcutta) before being pressed into reluctant service as a secret agent. His Afghan adventures culminate in a starring role in that great historic disaster the Retreat from Kabul.