Sir Harry Flashman

The novel's narrator and chief character, "Flashy" is enjoying his fame as the hero not only of Jallalabad but also of Balaclava. The 34-year-old, six-foot, 182-pound colonel in the reserves on half-pay, cuts a dashing figure. He is married to the beautiful but ditsy former Elspeth Morrison, and lives on her inheritance with her and their son, Harry Albert Victor Flashman ("Havvy"). Throughout the book, the fifth in the "Flashman Papers" series, Flashy assures the reader that he is not what he appears. He is at heart a coward, an exploiter of situations, and a womanizer.

Writing in his eighties in the early 20th century, the narrator describes being called upon by Prime Minister Lord Palmerston personally to scout rumors of a pending mutiny in India. For much of the time, he masquerades as Makarram Khan, a Hasanzai of the Black Mountain, most recently a member...