Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Black Ajax cover art

Black Ajax

By: George MacDonald Fraser
Narrated by: Colin Mace
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £13.00

Buy Now for £13.00

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Tom Brown's Schooldays cover art
Mr Midshipman Hornblower cover art
Anna Christie cover art
Dr. Watson's Charge cover art
The Captain's Table cover art
Under the Jolly Roger cover art
Crimson Rose cover art
The Covert Captain: Or, A Marriage of Equals cover art
The Blue and the Grey cover art
Flashman and the Seawolf cover art
The Diamond of Drury Lane cover art
Stalky and Co. cover art
The Potato Factory cover art
Ruled Britannia cover art
Powder and Patch cover art
Mistress of the Just Land cover art

Summary

In the spirit of Flashman, and in the inimitable George MacDonald Fraser style, comes a rousing story of prize fighting in the 19th century.

Reissued in a stunning new package, Black Ajax will attract a new generation of fans.

When Captain Buck Flashman sees the black boxer catch a fly in midflight, he realizes that he is in the presence of speed such as the prize ring has never seen.

Tom Molineaux may be crude and untutored, but if 'Mad Buck' knows anything (and, like his notorious son, the archcad Harry Flashman, he has an unerring eye for the main chance), this ex-slave from America is a champion in the making, on whose broad shoulders the ambitious captain can climb to sporting and social fame.

Under his patronage the ‘Black Ajax' is carried on a popular tide of sporting fever to his great dream: to fight the invincible, undefeated champion of England, the great Tom Cribb.

The story of Molineaux and his eventual battles with Cribb is told through a series of superbly original and individual voices - colourful, powerful and funny. Together they create a magnificent picture of Regency England and a portrait of a flawed hero who surmounted the barriers of ignorance, poverty and race hatred to bring the prize ring a lustre it had never known before and may never again.

©2015 George MacDonald Fraser (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"Mr Fraser is a great historical novelist and in Black Ajax he is at the very top of his form. Damme if he ain't." (Christopher Matthew, Daily Mail)
"This is not a flashy novel, wearing its learning noisily. It's rigorous, intelligent, meticulously horrifying. Wonderfully well done." (Nicci Gerrard, Observer)

What listeners say about Black Ajax

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    17
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    17
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    14
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not as good as Flashman.

The Flashman novels never cease to amuse, but this just didn't do it for me. It takes an historically correct series of events and inserts a Flashman, in this case Harry's father Buckley, but the writing style is in the form of narratives from the main characters. This with rather poor narration makes for a mediocre book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not too bad

It's slow going really. It's written as a series of recounts by different people of the time and period relating to subject. It does get interesting, but you've got to trawl through about 4-5 hours of build up before it gets interesting. I thought this would be a similar tale to that written by A R Dance - Bendigo - the prized Nottinghamshire boxer. But it's not as well written although probably as well researched.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!