THE HAPPY RETURN Captain Hornblower R.N.

Reader Christian Rodska sounds much like the late Roddy McDowell--the same expressive precision, the same British accent, the same skill with narrative flow. Without fully acting out each part, Rodska differentiates the characters, and through his handling of the prose, one can hear the creaking of the ship's rigging and the screams of dying men. This is a Horatio Hornblower sea story set in Napoleonic times, one of the best: The Captain attempts to help a mad Central American revolutionary to overthrow the Spanish dominions. D.W. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 02]