Book description
Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be
the greatest series of historical novels ever written. Now, for the
first time, they are available in electronic book format, so a whole new
generation of readers can be swept away on the adventure of a lifetime.
This is the eighth book in the series.
Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, veterans of many battles, return in
this novel to the seas where they first sailed as shipmates. But Jack is
now a senior Captain commanding a line-of-battle ship sent out to
reinforce the squadron blockading Toulon, and this is a longer, harder,
colder war than the dashing frigate action of his early days.
A sudden turn of events takes him and Stephen off on a hazardous
mission to the Greek islands. All his old skills of seamanship, and his
proverbial luck when fighting against odds, come triumphantly into their
own. The book ends with as fierce and thrilling an action as any in this
magnificent series of novels. '…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
'In a highly competitive field it goes straight to the top. A real
first-rater.' Mary Renault
'I never enjoyed a novel about the sea more. It is not only that the
author describes the handling of a ship of 1800 with an accuracy that is
as comprehensible as it is detailed, a remarkable feat in itself. Mr
O'Brian's three chief characters are drawn with no less depth of
sympathy than the vessels he describes, a rare achievement save in the
greatest writers of this genre. It deserves the widest readership.'
Irish Times 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.
