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Charlie Smithers #3
Charlie Smithers: Adventures Downunder
Book 3 of the best-selling Charlie Smithers Collection Flashman never experienced anything like this, not even remotely! Whether it's because of his gift of the 'sight, ' inherited from his dour old Hebridean mum, or simply a sorely battered noggin (a result of his master's appalling aim)the Australias hold one of Charlie Smithers' most intriguing adventures to date. Pirates, great white sharks, mermaids, scorching deserts, cannibals and a small army of sadistic bushrangers are only part of the story. A mysterious gunslinging sheila with emerald green eyes, and a shocking vocabulary, is another adventure all on its own. And throughout the tale there is the innocuous message from a ghost from Charlie's "You must learn to forgive..."
- GenresHistorical Fiction
382 pages, Paperback
Published December 18, 2015
About the author
C.W. Lovatt
17 books75 followersCW Lovatt is the award-winning author of the best-selling Charlie Smithers Collection, the critically acclaimed Josiah Stubb series and a raft of other works. Daniel Stubb: 1808-1809 is his latest novel.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 2, 2016
CHARLIE SMITHERS ADVENTURES DOWN UNDER
Chucko the gentleman’s gentleman has gotten into it for sure this time. Whilst on a junket with his master Lord Brampton to the land down under Charlie faces blood thirsty sharks, aboriginals and a feisty yet beautiful woman. The biggest challenge he will face is bringing a band of evil bushrangers to justice without getting killed himself. Pressed into service we see Smithers at his best because a Smithers never backs down!
Shark attacks, Aboriginals, and a woman who can cuss like a seaman oh my! This is Australia and our Charlie is in the thick of it. After wandering the aussies desert for what seems like for ever, the author sets our man on a mission full of fun and a wee bit of romance yeah. Mr. Lovatt has done the series proud in his latest historical romp across the world. I give this story five digeridoos for excellent writing and storytelling.
Chucko the gentleman’s gentleman has gotten into it for sure this time. Whilst on a junket with his master Lord Brampton to the land down under Charlie faces blood thirsty sharks, aboriginals and a feisty yet beautiful woman. The biggest challenge he will face is bringing a band of evil bushrangers to justice without getting killed himself. Pressed into service we see Smithers at his best because a Smithers never backs down!
Shark attacks, Aboriginals, and a woman who can cuss like a seaman oh my! This is Australia and our Charlie is in the thick of it. After wandering the aussies desert for what seems like for ever, the author sets our man on a mission full of fun and a wee bit of romance yeah. Mr. Lovatt has done the series proud in his latest historical romp across the world. I give this story five digeridoos for excellent writing and storytelling.
December 29, 2015
I am so out of my league in the frail attempt I'm about to make on writing a review of this latest book (the third, in "The Adventures of Charlie Smithers" series) by C W Lovatt.
An extraordinary talent is Mr Lovatt.
Charlie is now in the land Downunder amidst all of us Aussie sheilas and blokes. Ha! We are a colourful mob, and he has done a smashing job of depicting our irrepressible Aussie politically incorrect outlook on life. Even then, in 1866, we were an irreverent lot, totally confusing at times, but a strong people living in a unforgivably harsh land.
C W Lovatt has captured our essence, both of the aborigines and we whiteys. We demand you acknowledge our independent nature, but don't forget to hold the door open for me gentlemen, I love that!
"Charlie! What? Are you sure your name is Charlie, Smithers? I could have sworn it was...." Lord Brampton, (our lovable bumbling fool.) He continues to have NO idea that when he attempts to save Charlie, he comes close to causing the exact opposite. Each episode will make you simultaneously cringe with apprehension and giggle at his unfailing ineptitude.
This is another beautifully written story, the prose, faultless, the pidgin, delightful and the description of the land (vernacular included) 'spot on, mate!'
This time Charlie experiences spirituality he never dreamed existed. This gives us, as readers, a deeper look at the author himself. The tale is magical, a love story, wrapped around folklore and so cleverly entwined with history, that I found it nearly impossible to differentiate between fact and fiction.
"I bravely huddled as close to her as was humanly possible"
(Ha ha!) A simple line (which brings yet another smile to the lips) that unerringly explains ‘exactly’ what needed to be communicated, that our hero, Charlie, is questioning his manliness.
"All that I'd learned of gratitude was ruthlessly thrust aside, as I opted for vengeance instead".
I found this line to be… profound (for want of a better word.) Charlie chooses to push aside his fundamental nature, that being, a man who has duty as his first priority, accompanied by fairness, compassion and a strong aversion to killing.
I have always believed that words are powerful, but often, words lack the full meaning of what an author is trying to convey. We try to express emotion, but we find the words insufficient. Not so for this writer. C W Lovatt comes close to perfection when describing anything from scenery to the most simple of body motions.
I am envious (as a writer myself) of the easy flow of the story and strength of the characters.
I urge you, buy and read this fabulous piece of literature.
An extraordinary talent is Mr Lovatt.
Charlie is now in the land Downunder amidst all of us Aussie sheilas and blokes. Ha! We are a colourful mob, and he has done a smashing job of depicting our irrepressible Aussie politically incorrect outlook on life. Even then, in 1866, we were an irreverent lot, totally confusing at times, but a strong people living in a unforgivably harsh land.
C W Lovatt has captured our essence, both of the aborigines and we whiteys. We demand you acknowledge our independent nature, but don't forget to hold the door open for me gentlemen, I love that!
"Charlie! What? Are you sure your name is Charlie, Smithers? I could have sworn it was...." Lord Brampton, (our lovable bumbling fool.) He continues to have NO idea that when he attempts to save Charlie, he comes close to causing the exact opposite. Each episode will make you simultaneously cringe with apprehension and giggle at his unfailing ineptitude.
This is another beautifully written story, the prose, faultless, the pidgin, delightful and the description of the land (vernacular included) 'spot on, mate!'
This time Charlie experiences spirituality he never dreamed existed. This gives us, as readers, a deeper look at the author himself. The tale is magical, a love story, wrapped around folklore and so cleverly entwined with history, that I found it nearly impossible to differentiate between fact and fiction.
"I bravely huddled as close to her as was humanly possible"
(Ha ha!) A simple line (which brings yet another smile to the lips) that unerringly explains ‘exactly’ what needed to be communicated, that our hero, Charlie, is questioning his manliness.
"All that I'd learned of gratitude was ruthlessly thrust aside, as I opted for vengeance instead".
I found this line to be… profound (for want of a better word.) Charlie chooses to push aside his fundamental nature, that being, a man who has duty as his first priority, accompanied by fairness, compassion and a strong aversion to killing.
I have always believed that words are powerful, but often, words lack the full meaning of what an author is trying to convey. We try to express emotion, but we find the words insufficient. Not so for this writer. C W Lovatt comes close to perfection when describing anything from scenery to the most simple of body motions.
I am envious (as a writer myself) of the easy flow of the story and strength of the characters.
I urge you, buy and read this fabulous piece of literature.
December 26, 2015
I did ask for a review copy … because I really wanted to read this, the third book in the Charlie Smithers series! Right, so Charlie and Lord Brampton are on an Indiaman when pirates attack and the luckless Charlie lands up in the drink. Finally he washes up on a shore in Australia … and his adventures Downunder commence. He meets Mattie, a woman with secrets and a survival instinct that brooks no nonsense whatsoever …
Did I enjoy it? Absolutely and without a doubt, and I recommend it to readers of historical adventures, historical romance, those who enjoy the somewhat otherworld stuff behind reality, and also those who love a good giggle now and again. Adventures Downunder rolls all these facets into one amazing tale and I loved every moment spent reading.
The author has a worthy way with words, I must tell you, and merely reading the way he constructs not only his situations, but also his sentences, the thought processes … pure magic. Oh, and the little added twist to the musical tale there in the end? Awesome.
DEFINITELY a worthy read!
Did I enjoy it? Absolutely and without a doubt, and I recommend it to readers of historical adventures, historical romance, those who enjoy the somewhat otherworld stuff behind reality, and also those who love a good giggle now and again. Adventures Downunder rolls all these facets into one amazing tale and I loved every moment spent reading.
The author has a worthy way with words, I must tell you, and merely reading the way he constructs not only his situations, but also his sentences, the thought processes … pure magic. Oh, and the little added twist to the musical tale there in the end? Awesome.
DEFINITELY a worthy read!
February 20, 2016
After battling the high seas and villainous pirates, Charlie Smithers lands down under with a splash and surfaced to have a bloody good, fair dinkum Aussie adventure. Saved from certain death by the mysterious and charming Mattie they head off on a perilous and often dangerous trek through the Aussie desert, eventually meeting up with a group of aborigines, Charlie endears himself to the natives, learns about dream time and embarks on some pretty special dreaming himself. There was many a time I thought poor Charlie was a goner but true to form Charlie came through to adventure another day. This book has it all and portrays the Aussie outback and the Aussie larrikin way of life perfectly, strewth! I even shed a tear or two as I neared the end.
This is a must read for anyone who loves their adventures to be wildly entertaining.
Onya Chuck.
June 12, 2016
Having read the first two installments of Charlie Smithers Adventures,I was beyond elated to find there was more to read about old Charlie and of course I was in for a treat.C.W Lovatt delivers dialogue that puts a permanent smile on my face,he has a very unique talent of making the most direst of circumstances in his stories so light hearted I find myself giggling ,knowing that Charlie will come through the situation worse for the wear but able to forge on with utter determination.This book is sensational,C.W. Lovatt transported me to the Australia's with Mr. Smithers and I dare say I did not want to return from this latest adventure.Starting out with pirates, ending with outlaws and a touch of mysticism thrown in for good measure made for an extremely brilliant read and I highly recommend this book.
May 8, 2018
Charlie Smithers, or should I say C W Lovatt? has done it again, bringing us the best adventure yet in the series about this remarkable and lovable character. Following a raid by pirates and a serious wound from the ever helpful, but sadly unskilled marksman, Lord Brampton, Smithers finds himself washed up and stranded in a place that he later knows to be Australia. The story follows his rescue and travels with a foul mouthed and enigmatic woman, who he comes to respect and love, and is held together by a tune that haunts him throughout the narrative.
Written in a friendly first person, the book grabs hold of its readers and lures them from page to page, tugging at the edges of the consciousness whilst one is not reading, urging one to go back. Lovatt’s skilled narrative and exceptional story telling ensure that no reader gets away without this book becoming a part of themselves. It is, to me, a mark of true genius, when a character becomes so important that the reader becomes slightly infatuated with them, and this is true of Charlie. I cared, and cared deeply, what happened to him.
The amount of research that the author has accomplished to ensure every facet of this story is accurate is phenomenal, ranging from the flora and fauna of the Antipodes, through Waler horses, to folk history, Aboriginal people and traditions and that most elusive of Australian native phenomenon, ‘Dream Time’.
Smithers is his usual very British, stiff upper lip self, where fair play rules, right is right and wrong is everything else. His sense of indignity when confronted by someone who did not play by the unwritten British rule book, is so funny, and yet not too out of the ordinary for a certain type of Englishman – (think Jacob Rees-Mogg or Boris Johnson!) :
“Well, something had to be done, and no error. This was really too bad, but there was nothing else for it. My defiant glare transformed into an indignant frown.
Gasping, I managed to wheeze, “Hold on,” spluttering out a mouthful of the ocean, “this ain’t cricket!”
When this failed to stop him, or indeed, slow him down one iota, my indignation became quite severe, let me tell you, and I declared, “You, sir, are not a gentleman!”
No doubt your surprise is as great as mine, upon finding that this also produced no effect, and I could see that things were looking pretty grim.
“But dammit, you’re British!” I cried.
Then, with a final gasp, I took what little air that I could swallow into my poor starving lungs, and sank beneath the waves. I could hear his enraged fists pummelling the spot ...”
In this adventure, Smithers, whether as a result of a greater maturity or as a result of a severe bang on the head, begins to experience the gift of ‘sight’, inherited from his mother, which has been touched on in previous works, but never thoroughly examined. In this place, where real time and dream time go hand in hand, he finds a perfect avenue to get to know this other side of his psyche and a lot of the book is about the metaphysical, within the context of Charlie’s own exploration and experience of the theme. This is a brave undertaking for any author and CW Lovatt accomplishes this with exceptional understanding and tact and manages to explain paranormal events in a way that the lay person can understand and which would also be recognisable to a practitioner.
Dream Time is an anomaly in the space time continuum that is experienced by Aboriginal people and it is a subject that I have tried to understand in greater depth since the 1970s. Although this quote comes from the previous book in the series, it more than sums up Charlie’s tentative grasping at the subject: "There was more to our existence than met the eye. Whether it was through some sort of deity, or something else, there was a force at work beyond our capabilities of reckoning, and it defied reason."
This book stretches Charlie as a character and stretches the CW Lovatt as an author, to new levels of greatness and storytelling, weaving a magic spell around Smithers and Mattie as they dance to their music of time, that maybe, just maybe, only they can hear. Charlie probably will never get better from the loss of his wife Loiyan, but he has become better at it and is now able to confidently move on and face his life in all its dimensions.
With his exceptional use of words, Lovatt paints pictures of the mysterious and beautiful land that is Australia, getting under the skin of the country to its very soul and carrying the reader along in his wake. Whilst on the subject of the author's exceptional use of words, the book contains my favourite quote of all time:
"I bowed my head, wondering yet again, how something so pitifully shallow as my body, could endure something so deep as my grief, and yet live?" Every time I read this I not only relate to it, but get tears in my eyes.
And in an after word, the author posits a possible explanation for the lilting music that Charlie hears throughout the adventure tying the story together very cleverly, combining fact, folklore and fiction, a skill at which Lovatt excels.
And did Charlie learn to forgive? Read the book and find out! You won’t be disappointed.
Written in a friendly first person, the book grabs hold of its readers and lures them from page to page, tugging at the edges of the consciousness whilst one is not reading, urging one to go back. Lovatt’s skilled narrative and exceptional story telling ensure that no reader gets away without this book becoming a part of themselves. It is, to me, a mark of true genius, when a character becomes so important that the reader becomes slightly infatuated with them, and this is true of Charlie. I cared, and cared deeply, what happened to him.
The amount of research that the author has accomplished to ensure every facet of this story is accurate is phenomenal, ranging from the flora and fauna of the Antipodes, through Waler horses, to folk history, Aboriginal people and traditions and that most elusive of Australian native phenomenon, ‘Dream Time’.
Smithers is his usual very British, stiff upper lip self, where fair play rules, right is right and wrong is everything else. His sense of indignity when confronted by someone who did not play by the unwritten British rule book, is so funny, and yet not too out of the ordinary for a certain type of Englishman – (think Jacob Rees-Mogg or Boris Johnson!) :
“Well, something had to be done, and no error. This was really too bad, but there was nothing else for it. My defiant glare transformed into an indignant frown.
Gasping, I managed to wheeze, “Hold on,” spluttering out a mouthful of the ocean, “this ain’t cricket!”
When this failed to stop him, or indeed, slow him down one iota, my indignation became quite severe, let me tell you, and I declared, “You, sir, are not a gentleman!”
No doubt your surprise is as great as mine, upon finding that this also produced no effect, and I could see that things were looking pretty grim.
“But dammit, you’re British!” I cried.
Then, with a final gasp, I took what little air that I could swallow into my poor starving lungs, and sank beneath the waves. I could hear his enraged fists pummelling the spot ...”
In this adventure, Smithers, whether as a result of a greater maturity or as a result of a severe bang on the head, begins to experience the gift of ‘sight’, inherited from his mother, which has been touched on in previous works, but never thoroughly examined. In this place, where real time and dream time go hand in hand, he finds a perfect avenue to get to know this other side of his psyche and a lot of the book is about the metaphysical, within the context of Charlie’s own exploration and experience of the theme. This is a brave undertaking for any author and CW Lovatt accomplishes this with exceptional understanding and tact and manages to explain paranormal events in a way that the lay person can understand and which would also be recognisable to a practitioner.
Dream Time is an anomaly in the space time continuum that is experienced by Aboriginal people and it is a subject that I have tried to understand in greater depth since the 1970s. Although this quote comes from the previous book in the series, it more than sums up Charlie’s tentative grasping at the subject: "There was more to our existence than met the eye. Whether it was through some sort of deity, or something else, there was a force at work beyond our capabilities of reckoning, and it defied reason."
This book stretches Charlie as a character and stretches the CW Lovatt as an author, to new levels of greatness and storytelling, weaving a magic spell around Smithers and Mattie as they dance to their music of time, that maybe, just maybe, only they can hear. Charlie probably will never get better from the loss of his wife Loiyan, but he has become better at it and is now able to confidently move on and face his life in all its dimensions.
With his exceptional use of words, Lovatt paints pictures of the mysterious and beautiful land that is Australia, getting under the skin of the country to its very soul and carrying the reader along in his wake. Whilst on the subject of the author's exceptional use of words, the book contains my favourite quote of all time:
"I bowed my head, wondering yet again, how something so pitifully shallow as my body, could endure something so deep as my grief, and yet live?" Every time I read this I not only relate to it, but get tears in my eyes.
And in an after word, the author posits a possible explanation for the lilting music that Charlie hears throughout the adventure tying the story together very cleverly, combining fact, folklore and fiction, a skill at which Lovatt excels.
And did Charlie learn to forgive? Read the book and find out! You won’t be disappointed.
March 30, 2018
Once more Charlie is involved in non-stop adventure, with a bit of romance and a stronger element of the supernatural than the previous books. Great reading, and hard to put down.
September 11, 2017
I absolutely enjoyed reading this book. It was hard to put it down when I had to and when I had a chance to read, I literally devoured it with out most pleasure. The action is non top and the characters are incredible. Of course, if you have not read book 1 or 2 of the series you will feel utterly lost. This book could be read alone, but like I said there are many parts you will just not get. So better for you to read the whole series, which is addictive to say the least.
If you love fantasy, adventure, characters that are incredible and moments that will chill you to the bone, this book is for you.
If you love fantasy, adventure, characters that are incredible and moments that will chill you to the bone, this book is for you.
May 23, 2024
Charlie is the Anti Flashman. Courageous, honourable and bound to do the right thing, he, nethertheless, seems to be not without admirers, be they, Ladies of the Quality, aboriginal cannibals or Road Agents lovers, Trouble follows him in a Flashmanesque manner, despite saying NO (quite emphatically ) he ends up in the thick of it , trusty Tranter in his fist and the baddies at his feet. refreshing, fun and I am in for another one.
February 7, 2017
Great Story
The continuing adventures of Charlie Smothers is very enjoyable and is well-written. It gives the reader some insight to the aboriginal people of Australia and their concepts of their world.
The continuing adventures of Charlie Smothers is very enjoyable and is well-written. It gives the reader some insight to the aboriginal people of Australia and their concepts of their world.
March 25, 2016
A little disjointed through the dream time passages, but enjoyable and a good ending.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews