Point of View

In Flashman and the Mountain of Light we receive the prized gift of a story told from three different points of view. These differing perspectives on the same story give the novel a richness and depth that a single narrator could not provide. The first narrator is, of course, the elder Flashman who composes the memoirs long after the events have passed. We can make some guesses as to when he writes the memoirs. First, the action of the novel opens during the preparations for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. So we know that he had to have composed the work around 1887. Further examination shows that Flashman mentions "the other day" almost committing a murder in Baker Street (Chapter 16, p. 294). In the Explanatory Note the editor tells us that the incident in Baker Street occurred in 1894. This means that Flashman composed this portion of the memoir almost...