Book description
Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be
the greatest series of historical novels ever written.
H. M.S. Surprise follows the variable fortunes of Captain Jack Aubrey's
career in Nelson's navy as he attempts to hold his ground against
admirals, colleagues and the enemy, accepting a mission to convey a
British ambassador to the East Indies. The voyage takes him and his
friend Stephen Maturin to the strange sights and smells of the Indian
sub-continent, and through the archipelago of spice islands where the
French have a near-overwhelming superiority.
Rarely has a novel managed to convey more vividly the fragility of a
sailing ship in a wild sea. Rarely has a historical novelist combined
action and lyricism of style in the way that O' Brian does. His superb
sense of place, brilliant characterisation, and a vigour and joy of
writing lift O'Brian above any but the most exalted of comparisons.
'…full of the energy that comes from a writer having struck a vein…
Patrick O'Brian is unquestionably the Homer of the Napoleonic wars.'
James Hamilton- Paterson
'You are in for the treat of your lives. Thank God for Patrick O'Brian:
his genius illuminates the literature of the English language, and
lightens the lives of those who read him.' Kevin Myers, Irish Times
'Few, very few, books have made my heart thump with excitement. H. M.S.
Surprise managed it. [O'Brian's] erudition is phenomenal, as is his
capacity for creating another completely believable world. I might have
given a better idea of this book if I had simply written 600 times the word
“superb”.' Helen Lucy Burke, Irish Times
'As sinewy, and virile as its predecessors, this is a copper-bottomed
investment for the numerous fans of Jack Aubrey… we sail breathlessly
through perilous seas to the Far East. Vivid and authentic as is Mr
O'Brian's mastery of period and life at sea, it is in his creation of
characters that he excels.'
Sarah Lake, Daily Telegraph Patrick O'Brian, until his death in 2000,
was one of our greatest contemporary novelists. He is the author of the
acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin tales and the biographer of Joseph Banks and
Picasso. He is the author of many other books including Testimonies, and
his Collected Short Stories. In 1995 he was the first recipient of the
Heywood Hill Prize for a lifetime's contribution to literature. In the
same year he was awarded the CBE. In 1997 he received an honorary
doctorate of letters from Trinity College, Dublin. He lived for many
years in South West France and he died in Dublin in January 2000.
