About “The Happy Return”
The Happy Return is the first novel in the Horatio Hornblower series by C. S. Forester, published in 1937. The American title comes from the naval phrase "beat to quarters," meaning to prepare for battle. It is the sixth novel in the series when ordered by the internal chronology of Hornblower's life. Some details about Hornblower's past in this book differ from later stories, but Forester did not revise the novel to match later accounts. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.)