Mim and Toutou Go Forth - Giles Foden

This curious book tells the true WW1 tale of 2 British ships being dragged through the east African jungle and deployed on Lake Tanganyika to destroy a much larger German fleet. It starts out as a boy's own adventure yarn but then morphs into something much more serious. Finally, there are a pair of epilogues detailing the tale's connection to The African Queen and a bit of travel writing about how the events resonate even today.

It sounds like a mess, but Foden skilfully pulls it off. His recreation of the skirt-wearing, vain, duplicitous but ultimately heroic Commander Spicer-Simson is one of the best characters I have read about in a long time.

(Thanks to Andrew for the recommendation).