C. S. Forester

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C. S. Forester (1899–1966) was a British historical novelist and journalist best known as the creator of the British naval officer Horatio Hornblower, whose rise from midshipman to admiral and peer during the Napoleonic Wars, is told over the course of twelve books and a companion novel, beginning with The Happy Return. Abandoning medicine for writing, Forester achieved success with his first novel, Payment Deferred (1926); others included Brown on Resolution (1929), The Gun (1933), The General (1936), and The Ship (1943). Many of his novels were adapted to motion pictures; most notable among them is The African Queen (1935), directed by John Huston. Forester also wrote biographies and history books, such as The Last Nine Days of the Bismarck (1959). Aside from his writing career, Forester also served as a correspondent during the Spanish Civil War and the German occupation of Czechoslovakia. During World War II he worked as a propagandist in Great Britain and the United States. The conclusion of his famous Hornblower series, Hornblower and the Crisis (1967), was published posthumously.