C.S. Forester Books in Order
53 books are credited to C.S. Forester, published between 1924 and 2020; 7 of them appeared after C.S. Forester's death in 1966. The first book is Napoleon and His Court (1924) and the newest is U 97 (2020). Publication order is the reading order below.
C.S. Forester is the pen name of Cecil Lewis Troughton Smith.
- Books
- 53
- Published
- 1924–2020
- Confirmed
- 53 of 53 titles
- Pages on record
- 9,318 in 33 of 53 books
- Reading time
- 155–233 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 9,318 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 33 of 53 titles with a page count on record.
C. S. Forester was the pen name of Cecil Louis Troughton Smith (1899-1966), an English novelist known for tales of naval warfare. The Horatio Hornblower novels, twelve in all, follow a Royal Navy officer through the Napoleonic Wars; two of them, A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours, shared the 1938 James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Forester also wrote The African Queen and The Good Shepherd, both later filmed, and worked for the British Ministry of Information after moving to the United States during the Second World War. The catalogue holds 53 books dated 1924 to 2020, spanning novels, non-fiction, plays, short stories and children's writing.
How many C.S. Forester books are there?
C.S. Forester has 53 books, released between 1924 and 2020. 7 of them were published after C.S. Forester's death in 1966. They include 3 separate series.
C.S. Forester Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 53 C.S. Forester books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 119242843/4
- 21924–3/4
- 31924–3/4
- 41925–3/4
- 519262763/4
- 6Victor Emmanuel II and the Union of ItalyC.S. Forester Non-Fiction #31927 · 280 pages · confirmed 3/419272803/4
- 71927–3/4
- 81927–3/4
- 919282803/4
- 10The Shadow of the Hawk / The Daughter of the HawkC.S. Forester Standalone Novels #61928 · confirmed 3/41928–3/4
- 1119293803/4
- 121929–3/4
- 131929–3/4
- 1419291603/4
- 1519302323/4
- 161931–3/4
- 17Rifleman Dodd / Death to the FrenchC.S. Forester Standalone Novels #111932 · 220 pages · confirmed 3/419322203/4
- 1819333003/4
- 191934–3/4
- 2019353073/4
- 2119352183/4
- 221936–3/4
- 231936–3/4
- 2419373243/4
- 2519383233/4
- 2619382943/4
- 2719402393/4
- 2819413443/4
- 2919432883/4
- 3019453133/4
- 3119463223/4
- 321948–3/4
- 3319503103/4
- 341950–3/4
- 3519523133/4
- 3619533253/4
- 371954–3/4
- 3819542753/4
- 3919553203/4
- 4019561613/4
- 4119572843/4
- 42Admiral Hornblower In The West Indies / Hornblower In The West IndiesHoratio Hornblower #91957 · 329 pages · confirmed 3/419573293/4
- 43Hunting the Bismarck / Sink the Bismarck / The Last Nine Days of the BismarckC.S. Forester Non-Fiction #91958 · 118 pages · confirmed 3/419581183/4
- 4419624003/4
- 4519641393/4
- 4619655763/4
- 471967–3/4
- 481967–3/4
- 491968–3/4
- 5019681923/4
- 5119691923/4
- 521970–3/4
- 532020–3/4
C.S. Forester series in order
The series linked below has its own reading-order page.
- Horatio Hornblower books in order 13 books
C.S. Forester books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
C.S. Forester Standalone Novels
24 books24 titles published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.
C.S. Forester Non-Fiction
11 books11 titles published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.
C.S. Forester Short Story
3 books3 titles published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.
C.S. Forester Children's in order
1 bookC.S. Forester Plays in order
1 book- 1. U 97
Do you have to read C.S. Forester books in order?
You only need to read C.S. Forester books in order within each series: the books listed here span 3 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.
Where to start with C.S. Forester
Start with The Happy Return / Beat To Quarters (1937), the first Horatio Hornblower book. The earliest catalogued title overall is Napoleon and His Court (1924).
What is the newest C.S. Forester book?
U 97 (2020) is the newest C.S. Forester book released so far.
Is there a new C.S. Forester book coming?
No next C.S. Forester book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Awards C.S. Forester has won
Wikidata records 1 award for C.S. Forester. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize1938Won
C.S. Forester at a glance
- Died
- C.S. Forester died in 1966, according to Wikidata.
- After death
- Books credited to C.S. Forester are still being published after C.S. Forester's death in 1966; the newest appeared in 2020.
- Release pace
- C.S. Forester books have appeared about one every 2 years on average.
- Length
- 9,318 pages across the 33 of 53 books with a recorded length, a median of 288 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most C.S. Forester books, 14 of 53, were published in the 1920s.
What the C.S. Forester books are about
34 of the 53 C.S. Forester books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: fiction in english is tagged on 13 of 34. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Fiction in English 13 of 34 books
- Horatio Hornblower (Fictitious character) 12 of 34 books
- Naval history 10 of 34 books
- Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815 9 of 34 books
- Historical fiction 7 of 34 books
- History 7 of 34 books
- Peninsular war, 1807-1814 6 of 34 books
- Great Britain 5 of 34 books
- Hornblower, horatio (fictitious character) 5 of 34 books
- History, Naval 4 of 34 books
- World War, 1939-1945 4 of 34 books
- Action & adventure 3 of 34 books