Hornblower is a young man during Napoleon’s takeover of France. His story begins when he is a midshipman on board the HMS Justinian. He slowly moves up the ranks of the English Navy as he battles Napoleon and his allies on the sea in one of the greatest wars of all time. He goes on many adventures: from the stormy waters of the Mediterranean, to the scorching sun of the East Pacific.

The Horatio Hornblower series is one of my personal favorites. It shows what it was really like during the reign of Napoleon. If you are studying this time period, these are great books to pick up, even though they are fiction. I would suggest it for teens throughout adulthood because it has some graphic death scenes and historically accurate hardships of the English Navy.